A HEARING has taken place to cancel a trial due to be held for a Wareham man killed in a collision this summer.

Stefan Noyce, 29, died on the South Causeway between Wareham and Stoborough in the early hours of June 16.

On Thursday at Winchester Crown Court, a judge heard that he had been accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm alleged to have taken place on November 23 last year.

Dawn Hyland, acting for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “We have received notification that Mr Noyce, who was awaiting trial before this court, has in fact sadly passed away after receiving head injuries.

“A copy of his death certificate has been provided to the court.”

Judge Susan Evans said she had seen the death certificate, which confirmed that the trial could no longer take place.

Mr Noyce had been out in Wareham and was walking to Stoborough where he was staying with his grandmother, who has dementia, when he was involved in a collision with a white Mazda being driven by a woman from Poole.

No arrests were made in connection with the incident.

He was hailed a hero as a teenager when he helped to save the life of an elderly woman drowning in the River Frome.

In more recently years, he had been a fisherman and worked for the Dorset Waste Partnership.

Following Mr Noyce's death, hundreds of people joined a Facebook group in his memory, and his family paid emotional tribute to him.

Mum Paula Haden, who lives at Bovington, told the Daily Echo: “To me he was perfect.

“I am so proud of Stefan. I want the world to know what a lovely boy he was.”