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A cyclist who caused the death of a man by riding ?furiously? has escaped a jail sentence.

Peter Messen pedalled down a hill at around 25 mph before hitting Gary Green as he loaded his car in preparation for a holiday with his girlfriend. Messen mounted the kerb on his Apollo mountain bike just as Green stepped onto the pavement, knocking him unconscious to the floor. Green died four days later on April 3 last year after suffering serious head injuries.

Messen was given a 12-month suspended jail sentence and 300 hours of community service. He had pleaded guilty to the offence of ?causing bodily harm by wanton or furious cycling under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which carried a maximum jail sentence of two years.

The accused, who suffers from learning difficulties, said he was cycling fast at the time because he was ?desperately emotional? after an argument with a family member.

The event has been widely covered by broadsheets such as The Guardian and the Times, as well as the tabloid papers Mirror, Daily Mail, Sun who referred to the cyclist as the ?killer biker? and ?killer cyclist?.

This is only the second incident of a cyclist killing a pedestrian on the pavement since 1999, compared with the 80 pedestrians who are killed each year by motorists.