A speeding motorist who was sending a text message when she crashed into a teenage cyclist was convicted yesterday of causing his death by dangerous driving and was told that she faces a jail sentence.

Jordan Wickington, 19, who had not been wearing a cycling helmet, died in hospital later that day.

The court was told that Kiera Coultas, 25, did not see him at a busy junction on February 7 last year because she was sending the text at the time. She was replying to a message from her estranged husband.

Coultas, a hotel manager, admitted that her BMW was doing 45mph in a 30mph limit when she drove on to the junction in Southampton shortly after 7am. She told Southampton Crown Court that she had received three fixed penalty tickets for speeding – two of the offences were committed on a road leading to the junction.

Mr Wickington, a scaffolder, of Netley Abbey, Hampshire, had stopped at the traffic lights but then went through them when they were red and was about two-thirds across the junction when the BMW hit him.

Police initially could not understand why Coultas had not seen the cyclist but checks on her phone later revealed she had just received a message from her estranged husband whom she was on her way to meet.

Judge Jeremy Burford QC adjourned sentence until February 29 and warned her that she faced a jail term, saying: “Custody is the likely sentence for an offence of this sort.”

He ordered her to surrender her passport, not to travel outside England and Wales, and to live at a hotel in Hythe until sentence.

The judge also imposed an interim driving disqualification. Coultas, of Hythe, had denied causing death by dangerous driving.

Speaking after the hearing, Mr Wickington’s sister, Laura, said that the past year had been extremely hard.

“The loss of Jordan is a pain that will stay with us for ever,” she added. “He was a bright, intelligent and beautiful person who will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him.

“We are pleased with the outcome of this trial and hope Jordan’s death will prevent or deter others from using their mobile phones whilst driving.” Alison West, of Hampshire Constabulary’s road death investigation team, recommended that drivers switched “ off their mobile phones during journeys.

“It's pretty routine nowadays at the scene of these serious or fatal accidents to seize drivers’ mobile phones, and to have them analysed to see if the phone has had anything to do with the driving standards involved,” she said.

“In this particular incident, it transpired from a phone analysis that there was phone use close to the time of the incident.”

Last year a teenage driver who knocked down and killed a milkman while sending a text message to a girlfriend was jailed by Bournemouth Crown Court for four years. Motorists who use mobile phones while driving can be jailed for up to two years under new guidelines published by prosecutors in December.

Endangering others while using a handheld mobile phone, satellite navigation system or iPod at the wheel can now be treated as dangerous driving rather than careless driving.

The change means that drivers face up to two years in prison, the maximum penalty for dangerous driving, instead of the £5,000 and penalty points under a careless driving prosecution.

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