A HOTEL manageress who knocked down a teenage cyclist in a fatal accident at a major Southampton road junction has denied she was texting her estranged husband at the time.

Kiera Coultas rejected the prosecution's case that she had been responsible for the accident because she was speeding and not paying attention to the road.

It is alleged that Coultas was replying to a text message from her estranged husband when the accident happened shortly after 7am on February 7 last year at the junction of Mountbatten Way and West Quay Road.

It is accepted by both the prosecution and defence that the victim - who had not been wearing a crash helmet - had gone through red lights in Mountbatten Way.

He was about two thirds over the junction when he was struck by Coultas's BMW. She has admitted she was doing 45mph in a 30mph limit when she drove out of West Quay Road.

Jordan Wickington, 19, who lived in Woolston Road, Netley, died hours later in hospital from head injuries.

Coultas admitted at Southampton Crown Court that she had received three fixed penalty tickets for speeding - two of them were committed in West Quay Road.

She told jurors she had spent the night with her boyfriend at his Ocean Village house and was going back home to pick up her daughter so her husband could go to work.

"I was under no pressure of time to get there,'' she told the court.

At the junction, the lights in West Quay Road were green and as she looked to her right, she saw stationary cars in Mountbatten Way.

Wiping away tears, she told the court: "The next thing I remember was something in front of me. It was a bike and rider on the windscreen.'' Asked by defence lawyer Ian Hope whether she had time to take evasive action, she replied: "No.'' He asked her: "Did you text your husband while you were driving that car that morning?'' She answered: "No.'' Mr Hope asked: "Could you possibly have texted him before you got into the car that morning?'' Coultas replied: "Quite possibly.'' The court has been told her phone was seized by the police after the accident and she told jurors the first she knew of her husband's text was in June when she was re-interviewed.

In cross-examination, prosecutor David Jenkins questioned why she had not seen the cyclist.

Coultas said: "I think there are quite a lot of reasons. The time of day, the clothing he was wearing.'' Mr Jenkins concluded by asking Coultas: "I suggest you were making a text message and as a result you were not paying attention to the road.'' She replied: "I don't agree.'' The barrister then suggested: "This accident was caused by a combination of errors - one, your excessive speed; two, you were not paying attention to the road.'' Again she replied: "I don't agree.'' Coultas, of Frost Lane, Hythe, denies causing death by dangerous driving.

Proceeding