A driver involved in a fatal road traffic incident has admitted he made a ‘mistake’ but denies his actions were reckless.

Jordan Thomas lay on the bonnet of the BMW being driven by Jackson Joseph Paul and died after falling backwards onto the road when the car moved forward before Mr Paul hit the brakes hard.

Mr Thomas, 29, sustained catastrophic injuries following the incident on Harbour Road, Onchan, on the evening of February 25 last year - and died in the specialist unit at Liverpool’s Aintree Hospital eight days later.

Mr Paul, 35, of Palace Road, Douglas, denies causing death by dangerous driving.

On the third day of the trial at the Court of General Gaol Delivery, Mr Paul gave evidence on the stand.

He told the jury he has lived in the island for nearly 20 years and has worked as an engineer at an aerospace company.

Mr Paul said he was at home on the evening of Sunday, February 25, when his flatmate suggested they go for a drive and also check on the gym the latter man ran.

After visiting the gym, they headed to McDonald’s to get a coffee and drove back along the prom and up King Edward Road before turning into Harbour Road.

Mr Paul spotted Mr Thomas – who he did not know – standing between two cars and Mr Paul slowed down gesturing for him to cross. But Mr Thomas did not cross.

‘He (Mr Thomas) came out and ran towards the car and I had to brake,’ Mr Paul explained. ‘He then threw himself on the car.

‘I slowed down and stopped. He then grabbed the windscreen wipers. I was shocked and surprised.

‘I honked at him and asked him ‘what the f*** are you doing?’. I was getting worried.

‘I thought he wanted to fight me but I didn’t want to get out. He was a big guy and would definitely have knocked me out.’

Mr Paul claimed Mr Thomas was becoming more aggressive and he ‘started to panic’.

Mr Thomas then squatted down on the bonnet and punched the windscreen ‘two or three times’, according to Mr Paul. He told the jury he thought Mr Thomas was going to ‘break through’ and attack him.

After reversing a few yards, Mr Paul tried reversing again, not realising the automatic vehicle was in drive and he sped forward.

‘I panicked and was in shock,’ he said. ‘I was trying to figure out what to do. I did think about getting out and running off but I couldn’t get out.

‘I pressed the pedal thinking I was in reverse but I moved forward. I thought I was still in reverse. Once I moved, I thought he would have the sense to get off.’

On the previous day of the trial, collision investigator Claire Sproule-Craine concluded that Mr Paul had reversed for about eight seconds before stopping and then accelerated forward, through three gear changes, to a speed of between 32 and 38 mph before Mr Thomas came off the vehicle.

The defence’s expert estimated the speed as being 29-30mph, the court heard.

Mr Paul admitted he ‘pressed the pedal harder than normal’ and he also ‘braked hard’ as Mr Thomas fell off.

After he had stopped, Mr Paul and the passenger got out. The passenger went to attend to Mr Thomas while Mr Paul moved his car and directed traffic. A passing dog walker called for an ambulance.

When asked by defence advocate Stephen Wood how he feels about what happened now, Mr Paul admits it had had a big impact.

‘It isn’t normal to go out for a drive and then end up in a police cell,’ Mr Paul said. ‘It was a traumatic experience.

‘I think about it all the time. I wish I had just let him beat me up and then I wouldn’t have had to go through what happened this past year.

‘It has affected me mentally and physically. I have not seen any friends or gone out anywhere. It is not a nice situation to be in.’

When asked by prosecutor Roger Kane whether reversing, stopping, then accelerating and braking hard with someone was on the bonnet was dangerous, Mr Paul said ‘in normal circumstances, yes’.

Mr Paul also admitted Mr Thomas did not make any verbal threats and the only damage to his car was a broken windscreen wiper.

When asked about his driving that evening, Mr Paul said: ‘In the heat of the moment it was not the best option but it was definitely not reckless, it was a mistake. It was not intentional or planned.

When Mr Kane put it to Mr Paul that he had exaggerated the perceived threat to himself, Mr Paul disagreed and said ‘I regret the outcome of my actions’.

A statement from the passenger of the vehicle, who filmed the mobile phone footage of the incident, was also read out which was not agreed by the prosecution.

In it, he said Mr Thomas’s behaviour was threatening and he seemed ‘in a rage’. He thought the windscreen would break when Mr Thomas began hitting it.

‘I felt he was a dangerous man’ the passenger said in his statement.

In the video he recorded, the passenger can be heard laughing but when asked about this he said it was ‘nervous laughter’ and he was actually ‘terrified’.

The mobile phone footage filmed by the passenger was played to the jury on the second day of the trial which shows Mr Thomas on the bonnet and damaging the windscreen wiper. It then shows the car speed up and then stop with Mr Thomas falling off.

The court also previously heard how Mr Thomas jumped on the bonnet of another car just prior to the fatal incident.

Toxicology tests on Mr Thomas’s blood showed it did not have any substances in his system at the time aside from over-the-counter and prescription medication.

A roadside breath test and drugs wipe on the defendant returned a negative result.

Both prosecution and defence cases have been heard and summing up will take place on Friday before the jury retires to consider its verdict.