A YOUTH accused of murdering a 19-year-old motorcyclist by running a van into him texted his sister shortly afterwards wishing death on a teen crash victim, a court has heard.

Sheldon Lewcock, 19, from Tilehurst, was left with injuries that would prove fatal following the crash on August 4, 2022.

He died in hospital five days later.

At Reading Crown Court, Ryan Willicombe - who is on trial accused of driving the van into Mr Lewcock and a group of other motorcyclists - is charged with murder over the incident.

Willicombe, a 19-year-old Newbury resident, denies the allegation.

Today (April 22), prosecuting barrister Philip Evans KC presented to the jury texts from Willicombe's phone, dating from the day of the fatal collision.

The prosecution have claimed that the defendant drove the van into the motorcyclists following a dispute with Kayden Williams - Mr Lewcock's half-brother - who was also injured in the crash.

Following the collision, Willicombe went to his grandfather's home in south Wales, where he was later apprehended by police.

The texts read out in court were sent with hours of the crash, while the defendant was waiting at Newbury for a train to Port Talbot.

Messaging his sister, Willicombe confessed: "I'm [going to] have to move country."

In another, Willicombe said: "Hopefully, Sheldon dies."

The defendant added: "If he does, I'll laugh myself to sleep."

There were gasps from the public gallery as Mr Evans KC read out the texts.

Further graphic messages sent by Willicombe were produced in court last week.

The court also heard from Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl, the forensic pathologist who carried out the post-mortem on Mr Lewcock's body.

Although Mr Lewcock sustained a number of major bone fractures in the crash, Dr Fegan-Earl remarked that the damage to his head - often a key cause of death in road collisions - was actually relatively superficial. Describing mostly bruises, cuts and grazes.

Rather, Dr Fegan-Earl disclosed that the victim died from multiple organ failure due to an embolism, a condition which results when fat from broken bones seeps into the bloodstream.

He said: "That can cause a significant inflammatory problem, that essentially causes the organs to shut down.

"That, then, is what is known as systemic embolism - in other words, fat moving through the body to impact on a number of different organs."

The trial continues.