A CYCLIST was chased and fatally ‘shoulder barged’ off his bike, a court heard yesterday in the fourth day of the trial of three people accused of manslaughter.

Kieran Allcock, 18, of no fixed address, Andrew Vass, 26, of Upland Drive, Trevethin, and Deon Morgan, 20, of no fixed address, each deny a charge of the manslaughter of 63-year-old John Reeder on August 7 last year.

Newport Crown Court was told Mr Reeder, from Pontnewynydd, was kno-cked from his bicycle in the early hours of the morning on the A4043 in Pontnewynydd, and later died of severe head injuries.

The jury was told another defendant, Casey Coslett, has admitted manslaughter.

The three on trial are accused of a “joint enterprise” meaning they allegedly acted together in the crime.

The court heard Allcock’s police statement, where he described how he had joined Coslett, Morgan and Vass outside the Hales House hostel in the early hours of August 7. He said they snorted the drug meow-meow, although he added he had much less than the others as they had been ‘sniffing’ before he joined them (mephedrone).

In his statement, he said the group walked around for a few hours before they started heading towards an off-licence so Morgan could buy a packet of cigarettes.

He said as they walked Morgan and then-boyfriend Vass walked some distance ahead as they were having an argument.

Allcock told police by that point he had sobered up but Coslett was still “buzzing” from the drugs.

He said the next thing he knew Morgan was shouting to Coslett and himself to grab Mr Reeder off his bike.

He said: “She was chasing him, coming towards us. She said, ‘Casey, Kieran, grab him’”.

He added Coslett then ran into the middle of the road and was swerving from side to side ‘like a goalkeeper’ to stop Mr Reeder getting past as Morgan chased him from behind.

He said: “John was in the middle of the road, speeding down the centre to get away from Deon.”

Allcock added he came off the pavement and stood in the road but did not approach Mr Reeder as it was “not his business”.

He then told police that although Mr Reeder tried swerving away from Coslett, Coslett managed to jump in front of the bike and “shoulder barged” Mr Reeder, causing him to “go flying down the road”.

He said he approached Mr Reeder only when he was on the floor, to check on him, but when he saw blood he panicked and left the scene.

The court also heard that When Mr Reeder was admitted to the Royal Gwent Hospital following the incident, a CT scan showed substantial haemorrhaging, bleeding and multiple fractures to his skull, causing severe brain damage.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head consistent with falling from a bike.

Proceeding.