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news
Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgWoman who pushed boy off bike then boasted about it on Facebook fined
A woman who pushed a boy off his bike in Southport then boasted about it on Facebook, saying “next time he won’t be so lucky,” has been fined for assault.
Sefton Magistrates’ Court heard that Helen Henry-Bond shoved the 15-year-old from his bike and into a flower bed outside Dukes Bar in Ainsdale in April this year, reports Lancs Live.
She was reported to police after the teenager’s parents saw the 49-year-old’s post to a local group on Facebook, in which she wrote: “It's illegal for anyone over the age of 10 to ride a bike on a public footpath, so if your son comes home and tells you a crazy woman knocked him off his bike, it was me, he was riding full pelt at me outside Duke's, refused to give way so I stood my ground and pushed him to the floor, teach him some manners, next time he won't be so lucky.”
The victim, who was on the pavement but according to a witness was using one foot to scoot his bike along at walking pace rather than pedalling it, sustained scratches and cuts to his leg after Henry-Bond pushed him in the chest.
The incident happened on a section of pavement that had been made narrower due to outside seating for the bar, as well as the planter that the youngster, who was with friends, fell into.
Henry-Bond, who suffers from mental health issues, insisted that she had suffered from a panic attack, and also said that she had written the Facebook post “to big herself up.”
She insisted that the teenager had “come flying round the corner” and that he had “slammed on” his brakes, which she said led her to push him to defend herself.
But eyewitness Robert Hamlin, a customer sitting outside the bar, told the court that the victim was moving at walking pace, and using his foot to push his bike along.
“He was sat on the bike,” he said. “I wouldn’t say he was riding because he had his foot down on the floor.”
Under cross-examination, he added: “She was the aggressor towards him.”
Convicting her of common assault, magistrates said that there were inconsistencies in Henry-Bond’s evidence, and found that the testimony of eyewitnesses was credible.
They ordered here to pay a total of £814, including a fine, court costs and a victim surcharge, as well as compensation of £100 to the boy.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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22 comments
Has anyone dared to look at the Retch / LancsLive site to see what venom is brewing BTL?
No comments at all so far.
Article about driving at 60 watching a film "telling police he decided it was better than the 'negative news on the radio'."
Part of the problem also lies with the footway having been narrowed to put in covid friendly outside tables and seating, I'd imagine...
Nope. It's one of our regular cafe stops. Been going there for years - we were there yesterday, in fact. The seats outside have been there since before covid. There's an extra row now, but there's still plenty of space for people to walk past, or even ride past. The pavement is extremely wide.
Fair enough; was just going by the article saying that was the case, and my own experience of footways being enclosed for cafes and pubs. I bow to your local knowledge
This is the place as of 2018. It hasn't changed much as of Mar2021 apart from the tat man van is in the way on that one. There is a council planter plus the planters for the bar so could have pushed him either way.
I disagree: the full pavement is wide but at this point there is the bar seating, a tree and the planter.
There is only about 1.5 metres left there.
It does narrow, however still plenty of room for a pedestrian and a cyclist foot pushing along as the independent witness stated and the court believed. Would not have had the same room if he was dismounted and pushing the bike and the ped came.
Streetview shows a council planter, a bench and a massive tree between the curb and corralled area? Suprised you never noticed that when having your hearty breeakfast. The narrowed area is where DonaldP got his 1.5 metres, (although I would state closer to 2).
Should have got a higher sentence for lying too.
What a lovely lady. Let's hope she doesn't have a driving license.
I wonder if this is the result of an increasingly divided society and the problems caused by covid? A very learned person was on the radio the other day, explaining that since the algorithms reinforce our prejudices by showing us similar material to what we've already looked at, some of which will be extreme, it leads to more division, extremism and violence.
Possibly, but I also remember pre-social media times when gangs chasing and beating up gays/goths/punks etc were a common occurrence.
Meanwhile, the YouTube algorithms are very good for leading you to new interesting music.
It hasn't found anything to compare to the Kinks yet.
I do like a bit of The Kinks, but the point is to let the algorithm lead you down unexpected paths - go for the less famous names.
People who would once have been a village idiot or zealot being laughed at in a pub are now members of Facebook groups tens of thousands strong. Their own ignorance and stupidity are reinforced and reflected back at them.
Good result but I wonder how many weeks/years she has been given to pay...?
If people request time to pay fines it should come at the cost of their passport.
Let's hope this result deters other wannabe vigilantes. It's fine to confront behaviour that you believe to be illegal, but there's no need for violence against a minor.
It does help if you have some idea what is actually illegal though. Cambridge used to have problems with police stopping cyclists for riding the "wrong way" along what is not a one-way street, but is no entry to motor vehicles at one end. It now has a marked contraflow cycle lane.
I'd be on board with automatically allowing cyclists to go either way along one-way streets as long as they give way when travelling the wrong way. Currently, there's some one-way roads with specific cycle lanes and some without.