A cyclist who collided with a pedestrain, who later died, is facing jail after admitting “wanton and furious” cycling yesterday.

Peter Messen, 28, was cycling on the pavement at 25mph. He struck 41-year-old Gary Green last April as he reached the bottom of a hill in Stenalees, Cornwall, at a speed that witnesses described as “like a bat out of hell”.

Mr Green, who was loading his car outside his home for a trip to Venice, had just stepped back on to the pavement when Messen collided with him on his mountain bike.

Mr Green, a supermarket storeman who lived with his partner, Ruth Stead, and her four children, was knocked unconscious and died from head injuries and skull fractures four days later.

Messen, of Swindon, pleaded guilty to a charge of causing bodily harm by wanton or furious cycling when he appeared at Truro Crown Court. The offence carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment.

The court was told that Messen had been heading for the nearby village of Bugle, on his nephew’s bike, which he said he had never ridden before.

An inquest in March was told that he had mounted the pavement because he thought that it was safer than riding on the road.

Don Lowe, who had been walking home from a nearby shop when Mr Messen rode past him, said at the inquest: “When he passed me I shouted after him: ‘You are going to kill someone’, but I don’t believe he heard me.”

Mr Lowe added: “I remember thinking that he had an arrogant manner. He didn’t have a bell to warn me to get out of the way.”

Andrew Price, who was in a delivery van and saw the collision, told the inquest that Mr Green held out his hands in shock just before he was knocked over by the cyclist.

David East, from Devon, who was driving the van, told the inquest in Truro: “My attention was drawn to him as the speed he was travelling at was far too fast for someone cycling on the pavement. He continued to pick up speed as he went down the hill and I said to my colleague that he would send someone flying if he hit them. He was on the pavement where he shouldn’t have been. He had a total disregard for anyone else but himself.

“He was not giving the impression that he was having any difficulty in slowing down. He looked like he knew exactly what he was doing travelling at the speed he was.”

In a police interview, Messen said that he could remember riding down the hill but not the accident. All he could remember was waking up in hospital after the collision. He said at the inquest: “I am really sorry about what has happened and I wish it had never happened.”

Andrew Cox, the deputy coroner for Cornwall, recorded a verdict of accidental death. Yesterday’s court hearing was adjourned until November 16 for pre-sentence reports.

A cyclist avoided death three times after behaving recklessly at a railway station. The cyclist was captured on CCTV footage released by British Transport Police.

As a woman looked on at Catford Bridge station, southeast London, he walked across the tracks with his bike above his head, before twice slipping and narrowly missing the live rail, which had 750 volts running through it. Then he rode along the station platform before losing control and falling on to the tracks, with his bike. After he picked himself up a train arrived at the station and crushed his bike.

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