Andrew Mylrea's BMW was in collision with Pat Kenny on the slip road of the A38 at Clay Mills, near Burton, in January, 2011.

A CHIEF design engineer at Rolls-Royce, Derby, has appeared in court accused of causing a record-breaking cyclist's death by careless driving.

Mr Kenny, from Spring Lane, Whittington, near Lichfield, who in 1980 broke the Land's End to John O'Groats cycling record, suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, aged 72.

The prosecution at Stafford Crown Court alleged yesterday that the accident was caused by Mylrea driving below the required standard.

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Mylrea, 46, of Faraday Road, Stretton, denies causing death by careless driving.

Giving evidence, Mylrea, who heads a global safety team of engineers in charge of turbines, broke down several times as he described what happened.

He said: "I'm not for one moment denying I ran over Mr Kenny – I just don't know why I didn't see him. I wasn't doing anything other than the normal driving checks coming up to a junction that has hazards. There were times the sun came into my eyes, but I thought I had taken in the full scene."

The jury heard that, on the day of the fatal collision, January 21 last year, Mylrea had taken a day off work.

He and partner Anna, the mother of their two children, were returning from Ikea in Giltbrook in their BMW loaded with purchases that were obscuring the car's rear view mirror.

Mylrea said he was using side mirrors as he headed home on the southbound carriageway of the A38, a road he used most days going to work. As he approached the Clay Mills junction and pulled into the nearside lane to turn off, the sunlight was flickering and giving bright flashes.

Asked by Mr David Mason QC, defending, whether he had seen Mr Kenny, Mylrea said: "Looking back, there was some brightness, a flash. Whether that was Mr Kenny, I don't know. One minute I am driving along, the next there's an enormous bang."

The court was told a breath test read zero and his mobile phone had not been used. The trial continues.