A PORSCHE driver will learn his punishment next month for causing the death of a cyclist and father of two during lockdown.

Property entrepreneur James Michael Bryan, 37, crashed into Andrew Jackson, 38, as both were travelling northbound on the A168 north of the A59/A1 junction, York Crown Court heard.

Mr Jackson, a father of two from Hunsingore near Wetherby, was declared dead at the scene by a passing hospital consultant.

A jury heard that car driver Bryan had traces of cocaine in his blood.

At the trial he admitted taking it the evening before at a party in Cheshire that broke the then lockdown regulations.

The prosecution alleged phone evidence showed that Bryan was using his mobile phone at the time of the collision and charged him with causing death by dangerous driving.

Bryan, of Walshford near Wetherby at the time of the collision and now of St Mary’s Avenue, Harrogate, told the jury he had been using the phone in a layby and not at the crash scene more than half a mile away and denied the charge.

After hearing evidence, the jury acquitted him.

Before the trial, Bryan pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.

He told the jury he did so on the basis that he hadn’t left enough room between his car and the cyclist.

The jury heard the cyclist was cycling along on a stretch of tarmac between a solid white line on the side of the carriageway and the grass verge in the early afternoon of May 10, 2020 and that Bryan was in the left hand lane of the carriageway.

Giving evidence, Bryan said that the cyclist suddenly veered in front of him and he didn’t have time to avoid him.

Other drivers who stopped to help after the collision told police it was a windy day, the jury heard.

Police accident investigator Patrick Green told the jury according to the Met Office it was a headwind for the cyclist.

He alleged damage to the two vehicles ruled out the possibility that the cyclist was moving across the road when they collided.

The prosecution alleged that analysis of Bryan’s phone showed that he had been using Instagram and Facebook at the time of the collision.

Bryan said he was on his way to buy groceries for his parents who were shielding and feared he had left the shopping list behind.

So he pulled into a layby, got out his phone because it was in the pocket where he thought he had the list. The list wasn’t there and he searched for it.

He had then composed an Instagram post about the previous evening, but decided not to post it and drove out of the layby to continue his journey north, throwing his phone onto the passenger seat as he did so.

He will be sentenced on October 21 for causing death by careless driving.

Following the trial, Mr Jackson's family, who attended every day, said in a statement: "The outcome from today doesn’t change anything for us; we are still learning to live with the gaping hole in our lives left by Andrew.

"However, it is important we were here to represent Andrew, to get justice for him and to show just how much he is still loved and missed.

"We all deserve to feel safe on our roads and to make it home to our loved ones.

"We respectfully ask for time and space for our family to process the events of this week as we continue to grieve for our husband, father, son and friend."