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15-year-old boy arrested after violent attack on cyclist near Box Hill which left victim seriously injured with punctured lung when masked thugs on motorbike kicked him off popular cycle path

Motive for the "truly horrible" attack remains unclear, the cyclist suffering multiple broken bones and requiring treatment in hospital for several days...

A teenager has been arrested after a cyclist from Surrey was violently attacked by masked thugs on motorbikes while using a segregated cycling route near Box Hill, the rider suffering broken bones and a punctured lung when he was aggressively kicked from his bike last Wednesday evening.

After releasing a still image of the attackers, along with video footage of the attack, captured on the cyclist’s rear facing camera, in a bid to identify those responsible for the “vicious” and “unprovoked” assault, Surrey Police confirmed on Friday that a 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the incident.

“A 15-year-old boy from Leatherhead has been arrested in connection with our investigation. He has since been released on bail,” the force told road.cc on Friday.

Whether the incident was an attempted bikejacking remains unclear, however, numerous similar incidents of masked motorbike riders targeting cyclists to rob them of bikes having been reported across London, Kent and Surrey in recent times.

At around 7.30pm on 29 May, Matt Farr was cycling back to his home in nearby Leatherhead having completed a lap of the popular Box Hill climb made famous by its inclusion in the 2012 Olympic Games road races and which sits just a mile south of where the violent attack happened as he rode along the shared-use infrastructure that runs parallel to the busy A24.

Box Hill road painting 3 (courtesy Andrew Wright)

Riding towards Givons Grove roundabout, Matt heard the sound of a motorbike approaching but assumed they were on the dual-carriageway.

He was then "suddenly and violently pushed down onto the ground" (with the footage released by Surrey Police later revealing that he was kicked by the motorbike's passenger) and has little memory of anything before being helped by several cyclists and walkers who were passing by and reported seeing four people on two motorbikes without number plates, none of the suspects wearing helmets and with their faces instead covered by bandanas or balaclavas.

According to Surrey Police, the dirt bike riders then continued on towards the roundabout, where they took the first exit onto Leatherhead Road.

Coincidentally, the author of this story was cycling up Box Hill at 7.15pm on Wednesday and was shouted at by four people matching the description speeding down the climb on motorbikes towards where the incident occurred just minutes later.

Box Hill

On Monday 3 June, Surrey Police launched a witness appeal and said they were seeking information about "the riders of a dirt bike". The force initially uploaded a still image from the cyclist's rear-facing camera footage (which he still has not received back or viewed himself) but this was quickly deleted, the force telling us this was because it is believed both suspects are under 18.

Following contact from road.cc on Tuesday 4 June, Surrey Police reinstated the photo of the suspects to its appeal, the force stating it came following authorisation from a senior officer due to the serious nature of the injuries sustained.

A spokesperson told us: "We can make an exception for issuing images of under-18s in more serious cases if we have the authorisation of a senior officer. In this instance a senior officer has now authorised the subsequent release of the image due to injury levels, and we have now updated our appeals to reflect that.

"However, not releasing an image with our appeals does not mean that we treat offences less seriously if committed by a suspect who is thought to be under 18. Media appeals are just one investigative avenue available to us, and our officers make sure to exhaust all lines of enquiry as part of a thorough investigation."

And on Wednesday 5 June, the force released a 14-second clip of the footage captured by Matt’s camera, as part of the force’s appeal for information.

The footage (which has since been removed from this story due to the age of the boy arrested) shows the motorbike rider and a passenger riding at speed past two pedestrians, before the passenger kicks Matt and sends him clattering to the ground.

While two bikes were reported using the cycle path by witnesses, Surrey Police says it is concerned with the actions of the first dirt bike rider and passenger.

The force said: "The driver has been described as a White male, of medium build, wearing a dark grey hoodie, navy trousers, and a balaclava. The passenger has also been described as a White male of large build with dark hair, wearing a dark jacket, grey trousers, and black trainers."

“This is a serious assault which has left a man with significant injuries.  We’ve released this footage, which was captured at the time, to show the shocking nature of this unprovoked attack,” Inspector James Green, Borough Commander for Mole Valley, added on Wednesday, before confirming the arrest two days later.

Recalling the incident, which saw him spend four days being treated at East Surrey Hospital, Matt told us: "I don't remember much after [being pushed]. Shortly before, I had heard a motorbike behind me but assumed it was on the road rather than the cycle path. I suffered four broken ribs, a punctured lung, broken shoulder blade, concussion and numerous cuts, scrapes and bruises and have only got out of hospital today [Saturday].

"I had a rear-facing camera on my bicycle and the police attending the scene took the memory card, so I haven't seen the footage yet. I'm still waiting to hear back from the police but I'm not hopeful of the culprits being caught. I'm yet to assess the damage to my bicycle but can see at least the levers have taken a lot of damage. My cycling kit was cut off me in A&E and my helmet took several heavy hits so this is definitely going to cost me a minimum of multiple hundreds of pounds just for equipment, plus many months to get my fitness back again. It's really truly horrible.

> Cyclist shoved into ditch by hooded BMW passenger – spotted trying to "spook" other riders and locals – slams "complete lack of effort" by police to trace attacker

"I couldn't believe how violently I'd been shoved, I just remember feeling that I was rotating to the left incredibly quickly, there was literally nothing I could do and it was a fraction of a second before I hit the ground. It was bizarre and obviously they'd kicked or pushed or done something on the way past, it wasn't like a glancing blow or like I was hit from behind. It was a sideways shove basically, so it must have been deliberate."

The police told Matt it is unlikely the four people could be traced due to the lack of number plates and the fact they had hidden their faces, raising concerns about repeat incidents in the future.

"My immediate thought, because they weren't wearing helmets, was that they must have been local rather than coming out from London, they must have not come very far," the cyclist continued.

"Maybe it was just for fun, who knows? I was quite beaten up from it and was lying by the side of the road for about two and a half hours before the ambulance. Lots of people stopped and helped and there was a couple who were walking who got there first that don't live that far away, so they were nice and brought my bicycle back home."

Matt admitted being unsure about what it would be like when he is able to return to riding outside and will be "setting up Zwift" in the meantime once he is sufficiently recovered. 

"I might be completely fine or I might have some kind of post-traumatic and be unable to get on the bike again outside, I really don't know, hopefully it's the first," he explained.

"I was on my own and I think when the roads are really busy it's probably less of a worry but if you're out on your own on an evening, which quite a few people do over the summer, I think it's good to be a little bit forewarned. If I'd known about it, I don't know, maybe I would have looked behind and got out the way or stopped, I don't know. It's just so unnecessary [...] people riding motorbikes down the cycle lane not wearing a helmet with bandanas over their faces... they're not people who care about consequences.

"At the end of the day the chance that happens to you is obviously still going to be very small, I was probably very unlucky, but you'd like to think the chance would be zero."

There have been numerous incidents involving motorbike-riding masked attackers targeting cyclists, often in bikejacking incidents, across the countryside surrounding south London in the past few years. The motive in this case remains unclear, the cyclist's bike and property having not been taken.

> Female Ironman athlete deliberately pushed off bike by laughing car passenger into a ditch, breaking her collarbone

In 2022, British Cycling stepped in to say it was "deeply concerned" by a spate of violent bikejackings across south London. In the most high-profile incident, in autumn 2021, professional cyclist Alexandar Richardson was knocked off his bike, dragged for 100 metres by muggers on motorbikes, and threatened with a machete during a shocking bikejacking in Richmond Park.

In April of last year, a teenager, aged 15 when Richardson was attacked, was jailed for 12 months for the bikejacking.

Another professional cyclist, former Scottish champion Jennifer George said she no longer rides alone after she was similarly attacked by two people on a motorbike during a long ride from her home in south east London out to Surrey.

Jennifer George - photo via instagram

"I've never felt so vulnerable in my life. I've never felt so terrified in my life," she said.

A chase ensued, with the attackers trying to veer into the 39-year-old. When George asked them to leave her alone, one of the attackers said "no, why should we?" She managed to make it to a busy pub nearby, and collapsed having a panic attack.

Seven weeks later George was targeted by two more would-be attackers on mopeds, and she was forced to wait in a driveway for half an hour until they had gone. She reported both incidents to the police, with Surrey Police filing details of the first incident due to limited lines of enquiry, and Kent Police failing to respond at all. 

> "They said give us the bike or we stab you": Another cyclist targeted by motorbike-riding muggers on popular route out of London

A member of Penge Cycling Club narrowly escaped a robbery attempt near West Wickham, around five miles west of Orpington, during which the rider was told he would be stabbed if he did not give up his 2022 Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7.

While another incident saw a Trek Domane SL6 and Wilier GTR forcefully taken by a group, described as "youths on mopeds" by one victim and "four males on mopeds" by the other.

Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK, said he believes criminals are attracted towards stealing high-end bikes because the potential money to be made from selling them on far outweighs the chances of getting caught.

"It is possibly perceived as a low-risk crime if the numbers of people being caught are so low," he explained. "It may be seen as a high-reward, low-risk crime.

"There have been increasing concerns about people cycling out of London to the Kent and Surrey hills who have been victims of muggings or robbery. There are a limited number of routes where people would cycle out of London.

"Somebody has posted on Strava what they are doing on their ride. The criminals will know it is someone on a £3,000 to £4,000 carbon fibre bike who has unwittingly signposted the fact that they are likely to be heading out to Kent or the Surrey Hills. It is on the police's radar."

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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85 comments

Avatar
yellowjack | 5 months ago
6 likes

Sadly this isn't anything new. Years ago, now, probably 2014/2015, I was riding up Box Hill in the evening, as part of a long ride out from Farnborough. At the top of the second "lift", just before the hairpin, three mopeds/scooters, each with two loud and lairy teenagers aboard, came past me, and the second and third pillions both had a crack at kicking me off my bike (and down the hill). I didn't report it back then, mainly due to "lack of evidence" and the fact that the bawbags didn't manage to land a hit. They turned around at the top, too, and swerved their scooters toward me on the way back down, while shouting something unintelligible at me. It won't be the same scrotes, obviously, but disturbingly similar behaviour.

I think the media and politics have a case to answer, emboldening the scumbags off the back of the ridiculous levels of hatred toward cycling and cyclists we've been reading recently. I find scooter riders intensely irritating when I'm driving my car - imagine the police's reaction if scooter/moped riders were regularly being deliberately knocked off their contraptions by car drivers. I know Surrey Police appear to be taking this incident seriously, but generally there's a lack of interest/effort going into similar events unless/until there are serious injuries. More effort required a) to trace, seize, and destroy mopeds/scooters/electric motorcycles that are used illegally on public highways, and b)explain to the Muppets campaigning for bicycle numberplate laws that they won't help, because those who display them will be the law abiding majority, and those who routinely break the law won't bother registering for or display them...

Avatar
PRSboy | 5 months ago
2 likes

Great news, good Police work. 
 

Hopefully the judiciary will follow through with a draconian sentence for this nasty and unprovoked attack, make an example of the worthless little git. 

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HoarseMann | 5 months ago
10 likes

Just spotted another crime to add to the list:

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Rendel Harris replied to HoarseMann | 5 months ago
10 likes

That's two crimes, Crocs is one and Crocs with socks is another. Or are they combined into aggravated Crocage?

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wtjs replied to Rendel Harris | 5 months ago
3 likes

Glad somebody explained that! I thought it was just white socks.

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mdavidford replied to Rendel Harris | 5 months ago
13 likes

Doesn't matter - it'll get downgraded to careless footwear if it ever gets to a prosecution.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to mdavidford | 5 months ago
11 likes

mdavidford wrote:

Doesn't matter - it'll get downgraded to careless footwear if it ever gets to a prosecution.

Yep, probably just be ordered to undergo a programme of retrainering.

Avatar
Sbloke | 5 months ago
7 likes

Great news - the police have arrested someone they suspect to be the person on the back! Let's hope the publicity and the arrest has some kind of a deterrent effect.

Avatar
Blackthorne replied to Sbloke | 5 months ago
1 like

The reason is simple: the TikTok generation, in which parents are powerless, hence no morals are transferred from the previous generation and everything is to be captured for monetized attention. Thank social media for the idiotisation of a generation. 

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Blackthorne | 5 months ago
8 likes

Blackthorne wrote:

The reason is simple: the TikTok generation, in which parents are powerless, hence no morals are transferred from the previous generation and everything is to be captured for monetized attention. Thank social media for the idiotisation of a generation. 

Exactly what previous generations said about television, rock 'n' roll music, the wireless…there were probably cavemen back in the Stone Age complaining that these here modern cave paintings were ruining the upcoming generation. Each generation is different and makes its own mistakes and advances, I find the current generation of young people to be thoughtful, generous of spirit and having a heartening concern for humanity and the planet. Of course there are a minority of brain-dead thugs and stupid narcissists as there have been in every generation, I don't think we should write off or denigrate millions of youngsters as "idiotized" because of them.

Avatar
Mr Hoopdriver replied to Rendel Harris | 5 months ago
0 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

Blackthorne wrote:

The reason is simple: the TikTok generation, in which parents are powerless, hence no morals are transferred from the previous generation and everything is to be captured for monetized attention. Thank social media for the idiotisation of a generation. 

Exactly what previous generations said about television, rock 'n' roll music, the wireless…there were probably cavemen back in the Stone Age complaining that these here modern cave paintings were ruining the upcoming generation. Each generation is different and makes its own mistakes and advances, I find the current generation of young people to be thoughtful, generous of spirit and having a heartening concern for humanity and the planet. Of course there are a minority of brain-dead thugs and stupid narcissists as there have been in every generation, I don't think we should write off or denigrate millions of youngsters as "idiotized" because of them.

 

If only the same could be said by non-cyclists....

Avatar
john_smith | 5 months ago
3 likes

They look obese. Without their little motorbike they would helpless.

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Gbjbanjs | 5 months ago
8 likes

I am shocked at the prevalence of racist comments on this article. I am hugely disappointed that road.cc do not moderate such discriminatory comments. Shame on road.cc

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Gbjbanjs | 5 months ago
3 likes

Gbjbanjs wrote:

I am shocked at the prevalence of racist comments on this article. I am hugely disappointed that road.cc do not moderate such discriminatory comments. Shame on road.cc

Agreed, people would rightly be appalled if there were comments like "bet you £5 they're black" or "the police just need to look in the nearest black community but they won't". Not sure about "shame on road.cc": comments on these forums are generally not monitored. If you draw the offending comments to their attention with an email (info [at] road.cc) they're usually good at addressing such matters.

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dubwise replied to Gbjbanjs | 5 months ago
1 like

What else do you expect in tory/farage little England?

If you are not wholly English then you are lowlife scum who are responsible for all that is wrong.

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open_roads replied to dubwise | 5 months ago
1 like

The people in the photo are very likely to be British so what's Farage got to do with it?

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dubwise replied to open_roads | 5 months ago
0 likes

Did you bother reading the comments below, hence my post.

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Patrick9-32 replied to Gbjbanjs | 5 months ago
4 likes

If the criminals had gone full mask off the way this comments section has they would have been a lot easier to catch...

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Gimpl replied to Gbjbanjs | 5 months ago
1 like

Are you easily offended? I counted three out of 77. I wouldn't call that prevelant.

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HoarseMann | 5 months ago
11 likes

The passenger looks to be holding a phone, which is probably recording video as the flashlight is on.

I wonder if this got posted anywhere before the story hit the news?

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open_roads replied to HoarseMann | 5 months ago
2 likes

£5 says those two are travellers.

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Clem Fandango replied to open_roads | 5 months ago
3 likes

Just ahead of Derby weekend down the road in Epsom? Surely not.

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HoarseMann replied to HoarseMann | 5 months ago
0 likes

and could this be the top the rider was wearing...

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quiff | 5 months ago
6 likes

"After initially deleting a still image of the attackers, due to the belief that both suspects are under 18"... I'm sorry, does that mean that if the suspects are minors, the police can't publish images to trace them?! 

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Surreyrider | 5 months ago
2 likes

I've ridden on that cycle path countless times down to Box Hill, Dorking and the Surrey Hills. So this is truly shocking. Not sure how much the first person had to do with it - were there any other reports of incidents that didn't end so badly? - or was it a spur of the moment thing from the second person. Whatever, they need to be caught to find out.

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Clem Fandango replied to Surreyrider | 5 months ago
2 likes

Same here.  I've never experienced anything like that TF.

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SurreyHiller | 5 months ago
5 likes

I'm not sure if it was this site or another, but there was something else that happened in this area recently and it was mentioned it coincided with the Epsom Derby and the extra people that descend on the area for the weeks around it.

They were lambasted for it, but I've seen fights happen in Dorking with travellers* around Derby time that wouldn't have happened if they weren't there and starting trouble.   

(*how did I know they were travellers, they said so)

The fact it happened on Derby weekend does offer hope it was a one off and not the start of violence/robbery against cyclists in the area.   I use that cycle path regularly, but my bike's nowhere near the 'list' of stealable ones!

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bruxia replied to SurreyHiller | 5 months ago
1 like

Are you referring to the cyclists which was found dead in the road?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz96dr5en9po.amp

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Muddy Ford | 5 months ago
2 likes

How the fuck can the police determine from that grainy picture of masked thugs, they are are under 18? They literally have no chance of anyone being able to identify them if they leave out the only evidence they have of what they look like and this will be another attack on cyclists that goes unsolved. Can we ask Briggs, Harper, Sunak, IDS, and Murdoch for their opinion on what might be motivating this type of behaviour? I know what's motivating theirs.

Avatar
Clem Fandango replied to Muddy Ford | 5 months ago
14 likes

One suspects the police already have a good idea who they are based on knowledge of the local toerag community.  Proving that & making a case stick is probably another matter.

As well as a lack of comment from the usual suspects propogating anti cyclist BS for clicks and the gammon vote, there was abolutely sod all recognition of the recent PACT release pointing out the grim 500,000 deaths on our roads milestone.  Quelle surprise.

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