A schoolboy cyclist died after falling from his bike moments after being chased by a man in a car, a jury has heard.

Adrian Gilhooly, 15, suffered fatal injuries when he was flung from the machine and hit a telegraph pole on May 1 last year.

Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday Adrian and three friends were being followed by 72-year-old Jack Binns, who believed they had been messing about with his car, a Ford Focus estate.

Adrian's friends later claimed the car had been swerving from side to side and travelling at 40 to 50 mph, said prosecutor Jonathan Gibson.

Whatever speed the car was doing, Adrian would have pushed the defective bike down the steep hill in Wood Lane, Halifax, had he not been pursued by Binns, he said.

Binns, of Haycliffe Road, Little Horton, has pleaded not guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and also denies an alternative charge of dangerous driving.

Mr Gibson said the four youngsters had decided to go for a bike ride. Adrian's family were visiting friends in Kent and he was staying with one of his friends, who lent him the bike.

They stopped near the site of a former brewery in Ovenden Wood Road and it was there Binns emerged from a portable building on the site.

The boys moved on and the prosecution's case is that Binns then chased after them in his car.

All four boys turned into Wood Lane, where there is a steep downhill gradient.

"The hill is so steep there was no possibility for Adrian to stop halfway down, given the state of his bicycle," said Mr Gibson.

Its front wheel wobbled, the front brake did not work and the rear brake hardly worked.

Adrian was not confident riding a bike and would not have ridden as he did had he not been chased, the court was told.

Binns did not follow the boys down Wood Lane and returned to the former brewery site unaware Adrian had fallen from his bike.

During police interview, he said he had told the boys to leave the scene because they were messing about with his car. He denied chasing them, swerving or speeding and said he had driven to a shop.

The trial continues.