Fixie cyclist who mowed down exec faces jail

A thrill-seeking cyclist who hit and killed a mother-of-two while illegally riding an Olympic-style track bike without a front brake is facing jail.

Former bicycle courier Charlie Alliston, 20, crashed into HR executive Kim Briggs, 44, at up to 14mph as she tried to cross a busy road on her lunch break in central London.

As Ms Briggs lay dying in hospital from severe head injures, Alliston blamed her for the crash in a series of online posts and falsely accused her of being too busy looking at her mobile phone.

Alliston, who has tattoos on his neck and arms, is a fan of the controversial American stunt rider Lucas Brunelle, who hit a pedestrian after cycling through a red light in Boston in 2014.

Brunelle posts daredevil videos on Youtube of himself and other cyclists racing on public roads, weaving in and out of traffic and flouting safety laws.

Alliston was cleared of one count of manslaughter but unanimously convicted of causing actual bodily harm by wanton or furious riding after jurors deliberated for 12 hours and 14 minutes.

Prosecutors argued he should be tried for manslaughter because Alliston was breaking the law by riding his Planet X ‘fixie’ dangerously with no brakes on a public road.

But Alliston claimed he would not have been able to stop in time even if he had both brakes because Mrs Briggs stepped back into his path.

Alliston’s mum and step father wept in the public gallery as their son was cleared of manslaughter.

Judge Wendy Joseph QC said: ‘I have not seen one iota of remorse from Mr Alliston at any stage.’

Alliston, who has no previous convictions or cautions, dropped out of school at age 17 while studying A level photography and a Btec level 3.

He then worked for eight months as a bicycle courier for Go Between, A-Z Couriers and Pink Express.

A year before the fatal crash, Alliston openly bragged on Twitter about riding a bike with no brakes, tweeting: ‘The time when you first take your brakes off and feeling like you’re in a @lucasbrunelle movie.’

He bought his Planet X track bike for £470 in January last year after spotting an advert on the London Fixed Gear and Single Speed (LFGSS) website.

It was designed to be ridden on the track and was not installed with a front brake – meaning riders could only slow down by resisting the motion of the pedals.

Prosecutor Duncan Penny QC told jurors: ‘Track bikes without a front brake are harder to bring to a halt than bicycles equipped with brakes.

‘That is why you see (the Olympians) Chris Hoy and Laura Trott still whizzing around the track long after the finish.’

On 12 February last year Alliston was riding the bike to Shoreditch to get food for his girlfriend.

He was going at an average of around 18mph when he approached the junction of Old Street and Charlotte Road and passed through the green lights at around 12.15pm.

Mrs Briggs, who had started a new job as head of human resources at the nearby office of genealogy website Find my Past, was crossing the road during her lunch hour.

Witness Matthew Shaw heard Alliston shout ‘get out of the f***ing way’ and looked across to see the cyclist colliding with Mrs Briggs in the road.

Alliston flew across the road with his bike but immediately sprang up, took a step towards Mrs Briggs and shouted at her – only stopping when he realised she was not moving.

Mrs Briggs had suffered catastrophic head injuries including two skull fractures and bleeding in the brain and never regained consciousness.

A few hours later at around 5pm Alliston commented on an online Evening Standard story about the collision under the name “CharlieFxckingA”.

Angry at seeing other users criticising the cyclist involved, he wrote: ‘Hi guys, just though I’d comment on seeing this as I was the cyclist involved. May I just add that in no way whatsoever was this my fault.’

Alliston claimed that Mrs Briggs was busy on her phone and deliberately ignored his warning shouts before the crash before concluding: ‘Please find out what really happened before making judgments, cheers.’

The next day he wrote on a cycling forum: ‘It is a pretty serious incident so I wont bother say oh she deserved it, its her fault. yes it is her fault, but no she did not deserve it. Hopefully it is a lesson learned on her behalf, it shouldn’t of happened like it did but what more can I say.’

He added: ‘Everyone’s always quick to judge and run to help the so called “victim” but never the other person in the situation, IE me.’

In response to questions about the condition of his bike Alliston said it ‘had come out alright’ish’ and added: ‘And no fuck me and my health, I can heal and recover. The bike cannot! If I’d of been going any faster the frame would of cracked or shattered.’

He later commented: ‘Its not my fault people either think they’re invincible or just have zero respect for cyclists. What makes it worse is that even when people were helping her, her phone was going off continuously with texts which shows that she was on it at the time. If you value your mobile device more than your life, maybe this is the kind of wake up call you need.’

Mrs Briggs died days later in hospital on 19 February last year.

Prince Harry comforted Mrs Briggs’ two children, Isaac 13, and Emily, 11, after meeting them at a rugby match in Twickenham in April this year.

Police collision investigators used the CCTV footage of the crash to calculate that Alliston was travelling at between 10mph and 14mph at the time of impact.

They later carried out road tests on Alliston’s bike to show that it would take between 10m and 18m to stop while riding at 15mph – whereas bikes with both brakes could stop in less than four metres.

Alliston, who now works as a scaffolder, said he had no idea it was illegal to ride without a front brake but claimed he was riding safely and in control.

He said: ‘If I would have had a brake on the bike at the time it was the few split seconds prior to the actual impact that caused the collision so a brake at the time, it would not have made a difference.’

Asked about Lucas Brunelle’s risk taking videos, he said: ‘People such as Lucas Brunelle, he’s also very political in the sense of bike safety and cyclists safety.’

Prosecutor Duncan Penny suggested that Alliston enjoyed taking risks by riding without a front brake on a public road and was ‘asking for trouble’.

Defence barrister Chris Wyeth insisted that Allison was not a ‘reckless Lucas Brunelle wannabe’ and that the crash was caused by Mrs Briggs stepping back into Alliston’s path.

Alliston, of Trothy Road, Bermondsey, denied and was cleared of manslaughter.

He was convicted of causing bodily harm by wanton or furious riding.

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