An Essex drink driver panicked and drove off after seriously injuring a cyclist in a collision in Colchester, a court has heard.

Before Ipswich Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on Tuesday ( May 18) was 29-year-old Benjamin Bond, of Winstree Road, Stanway.

He pleaded guilty to causing serious injury to Jayan Chandy by dangerous driving in Cowdray Avenue, Colchester on March 3 this year, drink driving and failing to stop after an accident.

The court heard that Bond had been driving a Toyota RAV4 at the time of the collision and a breath test showed he had 71 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 35.

In a basis of plea Bond, who has no previous convictions, said he’d moved from one lane to another and had intended to overtake the cyclist but had pulled in and collided with him.

The court heard that Bond had panicked and driven off after the accident and was arrested within minutes two miles away at his mother’s address.

Judge David Pugh adjourned sentence until July 23 for a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric report but said the matter could come back to court sooner if the prosecution didn’t accept his basis of plea.

He passed an interim disqualification and told Bond: “I should warn you that this clearly crosses the custody threshold.”