Cyclist killed in tragic accident after falling while riding his bike down flight of steps

25-year-old builder, Ross Wilson, was killed in a tragic accident which took place while trying to cycle down a flight of steps, reports the Leicester Mercury. Pathologist Stuart Hamilton gave the cause of death as a head injury sustained in a fall, adding that had Wilson been wearing a cycle helmet it would not have prevented the outcome.

Wilson, from Earl Shilton, died at the University Hospital of Coventry, in Walsgrave, on February 11, three days after his fall. Recording a verdict of accidental death, Deputy Coroner Carolyn Lesley Hull said: "This was a tragic accident, and one of the saddest cases I've had to deal with."

Loughborough coroners court heard that Wilson had been out for a leisurely bike ride with his friend Matthew Hewitt on the afternoon of Sunday February 8. After stopping for a rest at the North Warwickshire and Hinckley College campus for half an hour, they set off again. Hewitt said that he decided to cycle down a set of steps and that Wilson had followed.

“I didn't realise Ross was going to follow me, I thought he'd take the ramp. Seconds later I heard a crash behind me and turned round to see Ross lying at the bottom of the steps on his back. I was shouting to get his attention to see if he was conscious but got no response."

Upon their arrival, paramedics, who had been called by a passer-by, took over from Hewitt in trying to resuscitate Wilson and he was then taken to the serious trauma unit in Coventry, where he died three days later.

Wilson’s head had struck the edge of the second from bottom step. Describing a fracture to the left temple area of the skull and extensive bleeding around the brain, pathologist Stuart Hamilton said: “The severity of the head injury, from the outset, was something that he would not have survived.”

Wilson had also severed part of his spine and suffered broken ribs, but Hamilton said that the head injury had been the cause of death, adding that that had Wilson been wearing a cycle helmet it would not have saved him.