By Cam Fortems, Kamloops This Week

Charges against a man alleged to have struck a motorcycle from behind in Magna Bay, killing its rider, have been upgraded to murder.

Raymond Edward Swann was originally charged with criminal negligence causing death and leaving the scene of an accident in wake of the two-vehicle collision on April 3 last year.

Brian Watson was killed. Police said the 60-year-old Kamloops-Thompson school district employee was rear-ended by the pickup truck travelling on Squilax-Anglemont Road while on one of his first rides of the season.

On Thursday, RCMP swore new information and the Crown has upgraded the charge against Swann to second-degree murder.

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Swann is expected to appear in court tomorrow on the new charge.

The Sorrento man is not in custody and the allegations have not yet been heard in court.

Ila Watson said police originally told her based on the accident scene that the collision appeared to be deliberate. The two men, however, did not know one another.

She said she believes Swann may have acted out of a mistaken identity.

There was also a report earlier the same day in Scotch Creek of a vehicle driving erratically.