A JURY has cleared a motorist accused of causing the death of a cyclist by careless driving after less than an hour of deliberations.

Nicholas Goddard, 63, of Pen-y-Ghent Way, Barnoldswick, had been charged following the death of father-of-three Craig Armitage, who suffered fatal injuries in a collision between his bike and the Mr Goddard’s Hyundai car in February last year.

The prosecution had alleged that Mr Goddard’s vehicle was "straddling" the central white line on the B6160 near Bolton Abbey, resulting in a head-on collision with 44-year-old’s cycle.

Mr Goddard, who had been going out for the day with his wife, told the jury at Bradford Crown Court that he had safely completed an overtaking manoeuvre and was back in his own lane when the cyclist crashed into the front of his vehicle.

Mr Armitage, an experienced rider, died at the scene of the collision and the jury heard disputed evidence from two accident investigators about inferences that could be drawn from marks left on the road during the crash.

He had been taking part in an organised cycling event on the Sunday morning when the crash happened.

The jury head detailed evidence from an accident investigator who had examined the scene.

Police officer Stuart Langford conceded there was no definitive mark on the road that enabled him to say where precisely the impact occurred, but his view was that the vehicle was over the white line when the collision happened.

“It shows the the vehicle was over the white line,” said Mr Langford “To what extent I can’t say but at least straddling,” said Mr Langford.

That evidence was challenged by Mr Goddard’s barrister, Ian Bridge, about his interpretation of marks at the scene.

He suggested the marks could have been caused by other cyclists, who had come off their bikes as a result of the accident.

The jury were sent out to begin their deliberations late on Thursday afternoon but just over an hour later they returned to court to deliver their unanimous not guilty verdict.

Mr Goddard, who had held a clean driving licence for 40 years and was himself a cyclist, wiped away tears after the the jury returned its their verdict of not guilty at the end of a four-day trial.