Warning: This article contains distressing content.

A motorcyclist found a dying man after following a trail of blood for more than a mile, a murder trial has heard.

Andrew Beasant-Roberts noticed the "suspicious" trail after finding a damaged bicycle in the road surrounded by confused witnesses who were unable to find the rider, shortly after 18:07 BST on 20 April.

Beasant-Roberts rode until he came across fatally injured head teacher Michael Mullins, 56, lying on a grass verge on Wet Gate Lane in Lymm, Cheshire.

Simon Richardson, 35, is on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, accused of murdering Mullins by dragging him along the road with his car after he became stuck under its wheels in a collision.

The jury has heard married father-of-two Mullins was cycling home from Stretford Grammar School when he was struck by a black Volvo XC90 which emerged from the junction of Dunham Road onto Paddock Lane in Warburton, Trafford.

Richardson is accused of fleeing the scene at more than 60mph while allegedly knowing Mullins had become trapped under his wheels and was being dragged along the road surface. Richardson, of no fixed address, denies both murder and manslaughter.

In a statement read to the jury, Beasant-Roberts said he was riding his motorcycle along Paddock Lane when he saw a commotion and noticed a damaged and bent racer bike lying on its side.

"There was an element of confusion, with people looking in ditches," he said.

"Someone suggested the cyclist might have become trapped and dragged. I headed back in the direction I had just come from, heading back to Lymm, and very quickly noticed a strange trail on the road. I would describe it as a wet, fluid trail.

"It looked suspicious so I decided to follow it."

Beasant-Roberts eventually came to Wet Gate Lane in Lymm where the trail appeared to swerve from side-to-side until it stopped by Wet Gate Farm.

There, he spotted the motionless body of a man lying on his side.

In audio of the 999 call, played in court, Beasant-Roberts can be heard telling the operator: "It's a cyclist who has been involved in road traffic accident who has been dragged along the road under a vehicle for two miles."

The court heard that, as the witness performed chest compressions, Mullins' breathing became increasingly irregular.

Two other witnesses, Katie Woodward and her partner Lois Wedgewood, also arrived at the scene after Woodward had noticed a black car speeding past on Mill Lane, with something she believed was a "body" wedged under the front wheels.

Woodward said she initially convinced herself it "must have been an animal", but became increasingly concerned as she examined the trail of blood.

The couple also followed it and found Roberts trying to treat Mullins.

She said it was "obvious" the body had come from beneath the wheels of the black car.

Earlier, other witness statements read to the jury described the Volvo as driving "extremely fast" in the moments before it struck Mullins.

Kirstin Biggs, who was driving behind the Volvo along Dunham Road as it approached the junction with Paddock Lane, said she noticed it "bobbing and weaving" on the single-lane carriageway as it attempted to overtake other drivers.

"I don't recall it braking. It was all over the place and driving extremely erratically," she told police.

Biggs said she did not see the collision but arrived at the junction where she saw people standing around a damaged bicycle, a piece of a cycle helmet and a single wireless earphone lying on the road.

Leon Dalziel-Bush, who was on his way home from work, was driving behind Mullins as he cycled on Warburton Lane as it became Paddock Lane.

He said as he approached the junction with Dunham Road on his left he noticed a black car driving so quickly that its speed "shocked" him.

"Next thing I knew it had hit the cyclist", he said.

"At no point did the car make any attempt to slow down or stop, the car was going at such speed that by the time I processed what had happened it had gone."

Other witnesses, including dog-walker Peter Connell, saw the black Volvo speeding past as it crossed the River Bollin into Cheshire.

"I could hear a loud dragging sound and realised it was coming from the vehicle," he said.

"It was an unusual sound like something flapping around like a piece of cardboard or a sheet."

The jury earlier heard how Richardson allegedly stopped on Wet Gate Lane for around 90 seconds, got out of his vehicle and attempted to pull Mullins free.

However, the jury was told, he got back into the driver's seat and accelerated away with Mullins still beneath the wheels.

Richardson's cousin, Gabrielle Debotte, was sitting in the passenger seat at the time, The jury has heard that she will give evidence for the prosecution about what she saw.

Mullins suffered severe internal injuries and the prosecution claim his death was caused by dragging and crushing - and not by the impact of the collision itself.

The trial continues.