A MAN accused of racing through three city streets at speeds of 80 miles an hour has denied dangerous driving.

Richard Woolgar, 35, appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday accused of racing Gavin Dawes down Brighton’s Lewes Road, Coombe Road and Warren Road on January 10.

Woolgar is accused of racing his Vauxhall Zafira against Dawes’ Vauxhall Astra at speeds of up to 80 miles and hour down Lewes Road, undertaking other vehicles in bus lanes.

Dawes’, chased by the police, carried on to the Old Steine where pedestrian Jonos Sasvari, 78, was knocked down and killed.

Dawes has already pleaded guilty to causing Mr Sasvari’s death by dangerous driving.

Magistrates yesterday ruled that the offence Woolgar is charged with was so serious that he will have to face a crown court trial. He was released on bail on the condition he does not drive any motor vehicle.

Dawes, 33, of Phoenix Rise, Brighton, pleaded guilty to death by dangerous driving last week and is due to be sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on June 16.

On that date he will also be sentenced for a previous incident when he sped away from police and hit speeds of up to 60 mph, narrowly missing a cyclist and prompting a pedestrian to jump out of his way on September 19, at 8pm, on Eastern Road.

Mr Sasvari’s friends and former employers told The Argus he was “such a nice man” and “totally trustworthy” as tributes were paid following the tragedy.

They said he always had a warm greeting for his friends in the betting shops he frequented in St James’s Street.

Mr Sasvari, came to England in 1958 as an 18-year-old.

In the 1970s he worked at Churchill Steakhouse in Preston Street and later as a porter at The Atlantic Hotel on the seafront and as a kitchen porter in Mermaids chip shop in Western Road.

There is also an ongoing investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into the police’s role in the incident.