A man is accused of causing the death of a grandfather of six while having cocaine in his system.

Dean Thomas, 44, was at the wheel of a blue Hyundai i30 when it collided with a bicycle being ridden by 71-year-old David Cox on the Old Thanet Way in Herne Bay.

Mr Cox, suffered serious head injuries in the crash on January 28 this year and died 12 days later at King’s College Hospital in London.

Thomas has denied causing his death by driving dangerously.

He has also pleaded not guilty to the lesser charge of causing his death by driving carelessly while having 289 micrograms of benzoylecgonine per 100ml of blood in his system. The legal limit is 50.

Benzoylecgonine is what cocaine metabolises into after it enters the body.

Thomas, of Central Parade, Herne Bay, arrived for the hearing at Canterbury Crown Court using a walking stick, with his lawyer telling the judge he suffers from back problems.

Mr Cox had lived in Herne Bay since his marriage to Pricilla in 1972 and had two sons – Christopher, 40, and Jonathan, 42 – and six grandchildren.

He was injured in the crash on the Herne Bay roundabout, at the end of the coastbound slip-road off the A299 Thanet Way.

His widow was at St Martin’s Church in Herne when she received the news.

“The police rang me just as I was leaving,” she said.

“They drove me up to the hospital in London, where I spent as much time as I could at David’s bedside.

“He was sedated when he went there and he never regained consciousness.”

Mrs Cox said her husband was a family man who loved his grandchildren.

“One of my sons said he loved going on holidays with him where they were able to take part in all sorts of fun activities like football and swimming," she added.

Mr Cox was a popular member of the community and was heavily involved with St Martin’s Church and the Friends of Strode Park.

Ramsgate-born, he attended Chatham House Grammar School, where his father was a housemaster.

He forged a career as a computer analyst, spending most of it at Lloyd’s of London.

Thomas is due to go on trial next year.