Reckless cyclists who kill pedestrians could be jailed for life as government set to crackdown on ‘nightmare’ E-bikes
Reckless cyclists who kill or seriously injure pedestrians will face tougher sentences in line with motoring offences.
Under changes to the Crime and Policing Bill, a cyclist who kills someone by riding dangerously could face life in prison.
Causing serious injury by dangerous cycling – or causing death by careless or inconsiderate cycling – could be met with five years in prison, a fine or both.
A serious injury caused by careless or inconsiderate cycling could result in a two-year prison sentence, a fine or both.
The law change, which cleared the Commons this week, includes legal e-bikes as well as pedal cycles, the Government said.
The Tories agreed to change the law after campaigning by Conservative grandee Iain Duncan Smith – only for it to fall foul of the early general election last year.
Sir Iain has worked with Matthew Briggs, whose wife Kim died from head injuries after a collision with a cyclist in London in 2016.
Charlie Alliston, who was riding a fixed-gear bike with no front brake, was found guilty of causing bodily harm by ‘wanton or furious driving’ – a crime under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act – but cleared of manslaughter.
Under changes to the Crime and Policing Bill, a cyclist who kills someone by riding dangerously could face life in prison
Causing serious injury by dangerous cycling – or causing death by careless or inconsiderate cycling – could be met with five years in prison, a fine or both
Conservative grandee Iain Duncan Smith said the change in the law would mean that for the first time there would be specific punishments for ‘reckless, dangerous cycling’
Sir Iain said the change in the law would mean that for the first time there would be specific punishments for ‘reckless, dangerous cycling causing injury or death’.
The Bill includes e-bikes, which he said were becoming a ‘major nightmare’ for police, with crimes being committed using them as well as being ridden dangerously.
Sir Iain said he hoped the legislation would make it ‘worthwhile’ for police to arrest someone for such offences. ‘Now you have very specific criminal offences at those who misuse and damage people’s lives and kill them,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘That will now be a specific crime, and will include e-bikes – riding on pavements, smashing into people, causing problems – that becomes a criminal offence.’
The Government said it was changing the law to ensure there is an ‘appropriate framework of offences to punish dangerous and careless behaviour that results in serious harm to other road users’.
The Ministry of Justice said the new offences ‘introduce penalties equivalent to those in place if the same level of harm is caused by drivers of other vehicles’.
In 2023, four pedestrians were killed and 185 seriously injured after being hit by a cyclist, according to government figures.
On average, three pedestrians have been killed per year by cyclists over the past decade.
Three Slovakian men are guilty of raping 12-year-old girl repeatedly over three days after luring her from Asda car park with cigarette and drugging her
Three Slovakian men have been convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl repeatedly over three days after they lured her from an Asda car park.
Kevin Horvath, 26 and Ivan Turtak, 38 spotted the youngster in Dover on August 11, 2024 and encouraged her to get in their car.
They drove the girl in Horvath’s Skoda to Turtak’s flat in Dover, Kent, along with third defendant and cousin of Horvath, Ernest Gunar Junior, 27, after promising to give her a cigarette, the court was told.
The girl was raped in Horvath’s car, before being taken to Gunar’s squalid caravan on Arthur Street in Folkestone, Kent, where she was plied with illicit substances, subjected to further rapes and other degrading sexual acts.
The men threatened to kill her if she tried to escape or call for help and took a picture of her standing naked in a bath tub.
She was given drugs, including crystal meth and amphetamine, and was passed between the three men who repeatedly raped her and subjected her to sexual acts.
The girl was taken out in public by the trio, who told her she would be killed if she tried to talk to anyone or tried to run away.
She was able to escape from them after she woke up before them on 13 August and was found by police in Dover. Her phone had been taken from her and was later found in Horvath’s car.
Ivan Turtak (pictured) and Horvath spotted the youngster in Dover on August 11, 2024 and encouraged her to get in their car
Kevin Horvath was one of three men who raped the girl repeatedly over three days
Ernest Gunar Junior was the third member of the gang who kept the girl prisoner for three days before she managed to escape
The court heard the girl, who was filmed while drugged by Horvath, had been treated ‘like a receptacle’.
Turtak was convicted of oral rape and was the first to be arrested. He denied any sexual activity with the girl, telling police: ‘I have my own wife and I love her. I don’t do such things to children.’
After their arrests, DNA belonging to the defendants was found on the girl’s torso, clothing and intimate body areas.
Prosecutor Hannah Llewellyn-Waters said the vulnerable youngster had been ‘used, abused and discarded like trash’ by the gang.
‘She was passed around and treated effectively as a receptacle for their own sexual gratification, and the defendants’ conduct was callous, degrading, and it was entirely exploitative,’ Ms Llewellyn-Waters said.
During the trial, the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court: ‘I didn’t want them to hurt me. They had suggested that if I were to try and get help they would hurt me.’
Det Con Linda Gavin, who interviewed the 12-year-old, told the court: ‘She was extremely upset, frightened, reluctant to speak. She was just frightened – a frightened child.’
During recorded cross-examination by lawyers representing the three men, the schoolgirl denied she had lied about her age or helped herself to drugs in the flat and caravan.
She also refuted suggestions from the lawyers that she had undressed herself and, while being raped by Horvath, had ‘gestured’ at Gunar to join them.
The girl was taken to Gunar’s caravan on Arthur Street in Folkestone, Kent, where the assaults occurred
The squalid interior of the caravan where the 12-year-old was taken to be raped
The girl was kept in the caravan (pictured) and also taken out in public by the trio
Turtak broke down in tears during testimony and claimed he believed the girl was 20, while Horvath claimed the girl looked like a ‘fully-formed woman’ without her clothes on.
The jury saw through their shameless lies to convict them on Thursday.
Horvath was convicted of sexual assault of a child under 13. He had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of rape of a child under 13 and one charge of assault by penetration of a child under 13.
Turtak was convicted of rape of a child under 13. He had already pleaded guilty to taking indecent photos of a child.
Gunar was convicted of two charges of rape of a child under 13. He had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of rape of a child under 13.
The three men were remanded in custody until their sentencing hearing on September 12.
Catherine Wear from the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘The three defendants took a 12-year-old from the street, took full advantage of her, plying her with drugs and using her for their own horrendous gratification.
‘None of us can underestimate the impact this has had on her. When she was first found by police, she was unable to tell them what she had been put through, as she was so scared, and the details only came out gradually after that.
‘Thanks to her courage in detailing what happened to her, despite the obvious distress that caused her, these three dangerous men have now been brought to justice for the appalling and callous crimes they committed against her.
‘We hope these verdicts bring some small comfort to her as she starts to rebuild her life.’
