A MOTORIST was driving carelessly when he hit and killed a prison worker, an Oxford Crown Court trial heard yesterday.

Daniel Fallaw, of Peregrine Way, Bicester, denies causing death by careless driving after his silver Ford Escort collided with 48-year-old cyclist David Parris in Bicester.

The 36-year-old’s trial began yesterday and the jury heard Mr Parris’ death could have been avoided.

The accident happened at about 6pm on December 4, 2012, as Mr Parris was crossing Neunkirchen Way next to the roundabout with the A41, the court was told.

Prosecutor Iain Wicks said: “It was as this defendant was coming off the roundabout on to Neunkirchen Way that his vehicle struck Mr Parris on his bicycle side-on. Mr Parris suffered serious and non-survivable injuries.”

The barrister said Mr Parris, who worked at Bullingdon prison, suffered a serious brain injury when he hit his head on the car windscreen and died in the ambulance on the way to Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.

Mr Wicks said: “The prosecution case is that this was a collision that was avoidable.”

He also referred to what he described as “the manner of driving, the choice of speed, the route that he (Fallaw) took across the roundabout and his failure, we say, properly to heed overall conditions of lighting and traffic.”

The trial continues.