Driver 'scaring cyclists' detained for fatal crash

An uninsured driver who killed a man when he drove on the wrong side of the road to "scare" a group of cyclists has been detained.

Ryan Willicombe was driving his father's van when he hit 19-year-old Sheldon Lewcock, who was on an electric bike, on 4 August 2022 in Tilehurst, Berkshire. Mr Lewcock died five days later.

Willicombe, 19, was found guilty of manslaughter following a trial in May but cleared of murder and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.

He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court to 10 years and eight months in a young offender institution.

Mr Lewcock was on Pierce's Hill with four other teenagers when they were spotted by Willicombe, who was 17 at the time and wanted to "scare" them, the court heard.

Willicombe, of Home Straight, Newbury, hit one of the group with the van's wing-mirror but its left side struck Mr Lewcock, causing "catastrophic" injuries.

His driving was “clearly an exceptionally dangerous manoeuvre”, prosecutor Philip Evans KC said.

But Paul Boden KC, for Willicombe, said his ADHD and "level of immaturity" meant it was "not obvious to him at that time" he risked causing serious injury.

The court heard Willicombe drove off after hitting Mr Lewcock and running over his bike.

He later abandoned the van and eventually fled to Wales, where he was found by police hiding in a cupboard at his grandfather's home.

Judge Heather Norton said there had been an "ongoing dispute" with one of Mr Lewcock's friends and Willicombe but that its reason remained "unclear".

Mr Lewcock’s mother Angela said in a statement submitted in May that she had found coping with his loss “excruciatingly hard”.

In a second statement submitted in September following Willicombe’s three-week trial, she said it had “made me feel like my heart was being ripped out again”.

Mr Lewcock’s siblings have also been significantly impacted, including some who have been unable to attend school as a result of their grief, the court was told.

Two years of Willicombe's sentence was given for unrelated class A drug offences.

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