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news
Portsmouth Crown Court (CC BY-SA 2.0 by Basher Eyre/Geograph)"I could have been killed": Cyclist with cancer beaten by driver in shocking unprovoked attack
A driver who blared his BMW's horn and shouted abuse at a cyclist with cancer before launching a shocking unprovoked attack has been told he will be going to jail.
The News reports 63-year-old cyclist Mark Rapley attended Portsmouth Crown Court to read his victim impact statement in which he said was just nine stone at the time of the attack due to his cancer treatment and "couldn't fight back".
Joshua Mills admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm for the unprovoked attack which left Mr Rapley bleeding heavily, with swelling and bruises to his face and body.
"I could have been killed for no reason whatsoever," the cyclist told the court. "I am furious I was assaulted for nothing. I still, to this day, have no idea why he did what he did."
Mr Rapley was cycling on Hayling Island at 11.30am on October 24 last year when he was beeped at by Mills in his BMW and was on the receiving end of verbal abuse shouted from the passing vehicle.
The driver then got out of the car, punched the cyclist to the ground, and began stamping on him. Mr Rapley turned away and protected his head to avoid further injury but was, prosecutor Richard Cherill told the court, left "bleeding heavily from the mouth" and suffered "swelling and bruises on the face and body".
Mills initially refused to attend a police identification parade and lied to officers about whether he was driving the vehicle, but later pleaded guilty to an assault charge having been successfully indentified.
"You are about to go to jail"
In the courtroom exchange that followed it is reported the judge, William Ashworth, told Mills he would be going to jail and asked if he wanted a lawyer, something the unrepresented defendant suggested was a decision he had taken due to financial factors.
"I run a small business and have four young children who depend on me. We've got a large mortgage and they will be homeless. I am deeply sorry," he said.
The judge then raised the fact that after the assault Mills had told a police officer he would only get community service and a fine, and told the defendant: "You are about to go to jail. You need to wake up."
"You've got four children and you think you can ride this out? This has come home to roost for you. You need representation as you are facing an immediate custodial sentence."
Mills replied that he would get representation and the case was adjourned until December 2 when the sentence will be passed.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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24 comments
Every day I read openly expressed cyclist hatred, why is it not considered hate speech like antisemitism and punished similarly.
Unfortunately, cycling isn't a protected characteristic (unlike race, sexuality or religion) and it is a choice that we make rather than something we naturally are. However, due to the number of KSIs that cyclists experience and the unwelcome aggression and nastiness from some drivers, I think it should be made a protected characteristic.
What a horrible human. The fact he's told a police officer he thought he'd get community service and a fine and turned up at court without an representation just shows how little he cares.
I hope the judge does actually throw the book at him for this, although I suspect the book (GBH?) probably means a few months custodial. I wonder if this crime will result in any driving prosecution?
I hope he gets some action in prison. Not the consensual sort of course.
I've never understood why some people seek to glorify rape
I agree, it's a comedy staple, particularly in the US, to joke about the fact that people will be at risk of rape in prison, very few people seem to pause and think how disgraceful it is that we can't seem to run a penal system in which it doesn't happen.
please give him a long sentence.
The recent Panorama showed how driving into and killing 2 cyclists on a clear road in daylight followed by the standard "I didn't see them" gets you off with a comedy suspended sentence.
5 years. So 2.5 years per dead husband.
Did they even name the killer ?
No, that would imply there was something wrong with killing the odd cyclist. They did, however, show that driving straight into a cyclist negotiating a mini-roundabout in broad daylight, by the simple means of ignoring the roundabout and saying 'everybody ignores mini-roundabouts', sending the bike flying right up into the air and only miraculously not killing the cyclist gets you the terrifying awareness course and nothing else. Courses are online in Lancashire.
With no explanation for his viscious assault on a sick man unable to defend himself, Joshua Mills should not be allowed out in public until he has been cured of his insanity. You can't just go around attacking random people and serve a few months in prison and then be allowed out to do it again.
Until he has been thoroughly examined by a panel of psychiatrists and been assessed as no longer a danger to the public, he should be kept in a secure environment.
"I am deeply sorry," That I was caught.
If that's the way this guy behaves with a stranger then you have to ask how he behaves with his children. I find it hard to believe that someone with such a violent response to a cyclist would be safe around any children.
Four young children that depend on him? Should be an aggravating factor, since he has neglected to consider their needs before committing his crime.
I guess most people read this will have been threatened with assault simply for riding a bike, verbal abuse and threats are common, along with "educational close passes". Generally I haven't taken it too seriously but when a van driver cut in front of me to try and stop me, I was able to swerve round, spot the other side of the road had no traffic and give the van driver a sprint as he lept from his van (I had had the temerity to complain he had close passed me). He tried to push me off my bike (as someone over 60 and he was 30-40 and labourer of some kind) but he didn't make firm contact.
So, a cyclist getting beaten up - who needs a reason?
Ah! More confirmation bias, where it is alleged that we only note the incident because of the irrelevant fact that it was a BMW driver. This is the driver of white BMW PK14 HLW threatening to "fucking flatten" me and to deliberately knock me off my bike (all on video). After a lot of fuss from me he received a terrifying verbal warning from a very reluctant PC.
"Cyclst", innit?
To be honest, it appears it could have been anybody that day. The defendant was going to give it to somebody, and that poor fellow ended up being the person on the end of his wrath. Somebody could have stopped their car on a yellow while he was behind and he would have dragged the person out of the car and given him a thumping. I bet it isn't the first time he's used his fists on a defenceless person.
part of me agrees, but part of me also recognises Ive experienced vastly more threats of violence,and acts of actual violence towards me as a cyclist in the last decade alone than Ive ever had from any other activity I partake in combined across the entirety of my life.
I got windscreen washed yesterday by an MGIFer at a set of traffic lights that were already red.
Yup. I agree. Cyclists are an easier target. I have seen someone try to pull someone else out of a car in a road rage incident once while driving. But I have never had this happen to me as a driver. I have seen drivers threaten cyclists more times than I care to count.
This is a particularly appalling example though and it's good to see that the judge thinks it merits a custodial sentence.
Also, is it me or has the windscreen wash treatment become a lot more common?
That's not windscreen wash
Absolutely. In my 20s and 30s I spent a lot of time on football awaydays, and I've had more threats and actual aggro from riding my bike in the last ten than in all that time. It's relentless and it stopped me road riding for a while.
Unless you can point to anything in the court records or testimony that supports that argument you should withdraw it.
The facts are that he attacked a cyclist nothing more or less.
But he has given no reason for why he attacked the cyclist; he hasn't said it was because he was a cyclist, he hasn't said it was because the cyclist annoyed him, or that he scratched his car or he insulted his wife. The postulation that he attacked the person at random seems to be at least credible.
Unsubstantiated assumption imo. A few too many drivers see cyclists as 'the enemy' and an easy target for aggression and assault. These same people often see fellow drivers as compatriots. I've been on the recieving end of aggression and harasment 10X more often on my bike than in my car and I spend as much time in/on each.