A CYCLIST hit by a car and killed as he rode home from work had found out just days earlier he was going to be a father for the first time.

Ryan Wilson was killed instantly after being knocked off his mountain bike on Rotary Way in Darlington on January 11 this year.

The Northern Echo:

Ryan Wilson's coffin is draped in a Darlington flag. Picture: Chris Booth

Speaking on Wednesday after an inquest into his death heard he had possibly been distracted by his mobile phone at the time of the crash, the 26-year-old's fiancee, Janelle Blythe said he had “cried his eyes out” when the couple attended the first scan of their baby just a week earlier.

She also said she had decided to name the baby Ryan Junior in his memory.

“He would have absolutely loved to be a father,” she said. “I have never met anyone who has been so keen to be a dad – we had already bought loads of stuff in preparation.”

Mr Wilson’s death led to an outpouring of tributes, including from his beloved Darlington Football Club, which dedicated a 2-0 home victory to the lifelong fan just days after his death.

“He absolutely loved football and he was hell bent on his boy supporting Darlington from day one,” said Ms Blythe.

The Northern Echo:

Family and friends pay their last respects to Ryan Wilson. Picture: Chris Booth

The inquest in Crook heard Mr Wilson was riding home on his mountain bike from an early shift at Argos Distribution Centre, at Faverdale Industrial Estate, when he cycled into the road in front of an approaching Honda Accord.

PC Michael Woodhouse, a forensic collision investigator from Cleveland and Durham specialist operations unit, said Mr Wilson had “failed to stop and give way to the car”, and the possibility of him being distracted by his mobile phone “cannot be ignored as a contributing factor”.

Mr Wilson, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown approximately 25 metres across the road.

A post mortem examination revealed he suffered a fractured skull and right leg in the collision.

PC Woodhouse said tests showed the driver of the Honda was travelling between 34 and 42mph on a road which has a 50mph speed limit.

“The driver had no reason to expect someone to enter the carriage way at the point,” he said.

“If he (Mr Wilson) had looked, he probably would have seen the car.

“The driver couldn’t do any more to avoid the collision – he had steered away and he had applied the brakes."

The inquest heard the positioning of the phone after the collision led the investigative team to believe it played a part in the accident.

“It was not concealed in a bag or a pocket, and it had to be in his hand to be projected so far,” said PC Woodhouse.

Leslie Hamilton, assistant coroner at County Durham and Darlington Coroner's Court, said: “The evidence we have is Ryan came down the footpath, for reasons we will never know – perhaps because he knew that route well – and didn’t take the extra precaution.

“It was simply a road traffic collision, and for a young man to die at that age is an absolute tragedy.”