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A driver who knocked down and killed a cyclist on a roundabout near Bristol has been given a community order.

Window cleaner Phillip Bridges, who had previous convictions for drink driving, had denied causing the death of Horfield pensioner Peter Brown by careless driving at the M48 Aust junction.

But a jury of seven women and five men found him guilty at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday, January 25. The jurors urged that extra road safety measures are installed to try to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

The offence of causing death by careless driving has a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment. But the 35-year-old was given a non-custodial sentence by the Recorder of Bristol, Judge Peter Blair QC.

BMW driver Bridges had told the jury he made proper checks after he exited the M48 from the junction one slip road at Aust. But he failed to see Mr Brown, who was wearing a high visibility jacket and cycle helmet, and knocked him off his bike on the roundabout.

Mr Brown, 74, suffered a brain injury and died in hospital two weeks after the crash in October 2016.

Bridges, of Bryn Bevan in Newport, told the jury he made all the usual checks approaching the roundabout but didn't see Mr Brown. When his wife, who was sitting beside him, screamed, he braked before hitting a cyclist who appeared in front of him.

(Image: Geoff Bennett)

He said: “I didn’t see him. I feel that he has come from the back of the car.”

But witness Patrick Jones-Barbour, who was driving behind Bridges’ black BMW 120 after crossing the Severn Bridge, told the jury he had seen Mr Brown on the roundabout as he and Bridges both slowed down on the slip road.

Mr Jones-Barbour said: “A cyclist appeared on the roundabout from the right hand side. I saw the cyclist contrasted against the dark green foliage on the roundabout.

“I thought to myself ‘we’re going to have to stop’. I started braking, ordinarily. The BMW slowed but it didn’t stop.

“It went onto the roundabout and there was a shout from the cyclist, who tried to swerve out the way of the BMW. The cyclist and the BMW collided.”

Richard Posner, prosecuting, read an impact statement from Mr Brown’s widow Julia, who said her husband was a very active man who cycled 150 to 200 miles a week and had years ahead of him.

(Image: Google)

She wrote: “I miss him 24 hours a day. He has gone way before his time.”

Kate Wyatt, one of Mr Brown’s four daughters, wrote: “He cared for us, he would do anything for us.

“He was incredibly generous with his time. He is going to miss so much: birthdays, graduations, weddings, great grandchildren.

“He has left a huge gap in our lives that will never be filled.”

James Tucker, defending, conceded that his client had historical previous convictions for drink driving. But he told the court Bridges had grown into a family man who had started his own business.

Mr Tucker said: “He’s very regretful as to what happened.”

After the guilty verdict was returned the jury sent a note to the judge, concerning the junction, which read: “'Think Bike' signage would be a positive step.”

Julian Chambers, a forensic collision examiner who gave evidence in the trial, said the jury suggestion would be passed to police as well as local authority.

Judge Blair imposed a year’s community order, with 250 hours’ unpaid work and a three-month curfew.

Bridges was banned from driving for 15 months and told to pass an extended driving test before getting behind the wheel again.

The judge told him: “You had the obligation to ensure the safety of other road users, which included cyclists.”

Bridges declined to comment as he left court.