Welcome to our sentencing round-up, a regular compilation of sentencing stories from local publishers and police forces from around the UK, and sometimes internationally in particularly notable cases.
All sources are credited with a link, and where a case has been picked up nationally, we’ll always credit local publishers who have attended court. Since our last round-up, we have also covered some of the more extraordinary judicial outcomes as standalone stories.
Yesterday, Simon Richardson was handed a life sentence and a lifetime driving ban for the murder of grammar school headteacher Michael Mullins. Having hit Mullins with his car, Richardson proceeded to drag him under his vehicle for several minutes before reversing over him once he was dislodged. When he was sentenced, the court heard Richardson had 28 previous convictions, including several driving offences. He had previously been found guilty of murder and dangerous driving.
We also covered the sentencing of Joseph Hedley in Edinburgh, who avoided jail “by the narrowest of margins” after getting out of his car, grabbing a cyclist by the neck and pushing him to the ground, breaking the cyclist’s skull. 39-year-old Hedley chose to stop and speak to reporters as he left court, and said the rider was “kicking off” and “blocking my way so I had to move him”.
Illegal bike-riding teens pre-emptively disqualified from driving after seriously injuring cyclist
Two 15-year-old boys have been disqualified from driving after recklessly riding on Sur-Ron electric motorbikes and seriously injuring a cyclist in a collision, SWNS report.
The boys, who cannot be named, were seen on CCTV riding on pavements and doing wheelies on 31st January. After making a dangerous overtake on Thorntree Road in Thornaby, North Yorkshire, one of the boys crashed into a 46-year-old cyclist, wedging him between his bike and a parked car whilst the pair attempted to flee. The cyclist, a father of seven, has been left requiring round-the-clock care and remains in hospital eight months after the incident.
The boy who collided with the cyclist pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving without a licence or insurance. The other boy pleaded guilty to possession of a class B drug, driving without a licence or insurance and driving dangerously. He was also found to have perverted the course of justice after removing the illegal bikes from the scene.
Both boys were disqualified from driving and have each been referred to a Youth Offending Team, one has also been ordered to pay £495 in compensation. Detective Constable Nichola Lamport said she was “disappointed” with the punishment issued.
“This case shows that there are lessons to be learned around thinking twice before riding such powerful, dangerous and illegal machines.
“This is an important educational message; vehicles are not toys and can be dangerous – potentially lethal – weapons on our roads.”
18-week suspended sentence for under-the-influence teenager who seriously injured cyclist
A student who rear-ended a cyclist, causing serious head injuries, and then left the scene of the crime has avoided jail, Nottinghamshire Police report.
Lionel Reid, 19, had been drinking with friends before he decided to get behind the wheel of his BMW on September 26, 2025.
He was travelling down Wilford Road around 6.30am when he hit the 50-year-old cyclist, who sustained serious head and facial injuries and broken bones. Reid initially drove on before ditching his car and returning to the scene of the crime on foot. He did not identify himself to officers or confess to what he had done.
Officers located the abandoned vehicle two hours after the crash, where Reid’s wallet was found inside the vehicle containing his personal details. He later rang the police after the force contacted his parents.
After a drugs and alcohol test was conducted, which also detected cannabis in his system, a forensic science consultant said it was likely Reid was twice over the legal alcohol limit when he was driving. However, Reid told police that he had drank very little that evening and had only smoked cannabis after the collision at his friend’s student flat.
Reid pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by careless and reckless driving. He was handed a 18 week suspended sentence that will last for 18 months. He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work, and received a two year driving ban, with Reid requiring an extended re-test to receive his driving licence back.
The magistrate’s issuing the sentence said Reid’s culpability and harm had surpassed the custody threshold but that a suspended sentence was “proportionate and balanced”. Reid’s solicitor said his client was remorseful for leaving the scene and that it was out of character and “an appalling decision”. He later apologised to the cyclist directly.
Detective Constable Christopher Taylor said: “Reid’s behaviour was completely reckless. Not only did he crash into a cyclist causing him significant injuries, he made a conscious decision to leave the scene and abandon his vehicle. He made a selfish decision to leave the cyclist in the road.
“Instead, by his own admission, he went to his friend’s house to smoke cannabis. The victim was left with significant injuries and had to spend 21 days in hospital. The injuries included skull fractures, a bleed on the brain, multiple facial fractures, and a broken shoulder joint amongst other injuries that have had a severe impact on his life and that of his family.
“I hope this case serves as a strong reminder of the dangers of getting behind a vehicle after a night out in town. The victim in this case is very lucky to be alive.”
10 years in jail for speeding driver who inhaled laughing gas and killed cyclist
A speeding driver who inhaled nitrous oxide before getting behind the wheel of her Audi has been sentenced to 10 years and nine months in prison for causing the death by dangerous driving of a music student, Metro, MyLondon and several other outlets reported.
Harry Webb, 27, had only moved into his new student accommodation earlier in the day of 10th September 2023 when he was struck by Tiffany Treanor-Johnson, who was driving her Audi 53mph along the 20mph-limited Kenworthy Road in Hackney, East London.
Webb was left with a “traumatic” head injury by the collision whilst Treanor-Johnson did not initially stop, instead driving onto the pavement and colliding with a Citroen. The Citroen driver told the court he had “pulled forward to stop her” before leaving his car and seizing her car keys, whilst one of the passengers in the back of the Audi grabbed a bag before leaving the vehicle.
Treanor-Johnson was subsequently arrested on the scene by officers, who found fragments of balloons in her car. Having initially denied the charges, she pleaded guilty at a court appearance in April. In addition to her prison sentence, Treanor-Johnson was also given a ten year driving ban, with the sentencing judge Rosa Dean telling her: “You are solely to blame for the collision.”
Defending, Treanor-Johnson’s lawyer said her client was “in a state of shock” after the collision and had not deliberately evaded responsibility”.
3 years in prison for TikTok-distracted driver who paralysed cyclist
29-year-old Samuel Powell initially denied causing serious injury by dangerous driving but was found guilty after a two day trial at St Albans Crown Court, Hertfordshire Constabulary report.
Powell was travelling northbound along the A41 Northwestern Avenue in Watford, at the junction with the A405, when he struck a cyclist at around 8.40am on 18th August 2023. The court heard how Powell’s mobile phone was displaying TikTok videos around the time of the collision, with detectives proving there was also no phone holder in his vehicle.
The cyclist, now 28, will rely on a wheelchair for the rest of his life having been paralysed below his belly button. Powell was sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment. He has also been banned from driving for two years once released and will have to take an extended re-test.
Detective Constable James McAlister, who led the investigation, said: “Powell’s denial of the offences meant the victim was forced to go through the ordeal of a criminal trial, and I hope today’s result goes some way in providing closure.
“This case also highlights the harm associated with dangerous driving and I hope this sentence serves as a warning to others about the devastating consequences of such behaviour.”
Hertfordshire Constabulary are using Powell’s sentencing to raise awareness of their ‘Split Second’ campaign, highlighting the “fatal five” most contributory factors that cause serious road traffic collisions – careless driving, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone or other hand-held devices, and speeding.
6 years in prison, 5 year driving ban for for motorist who used van “as a weapon”
A man who used his van as a weapon has been jailed for six years after deliberately hitting a cyclist, causing life changing injuries, Cheshire Constabulary report.
John Christie cut the corner of a junction of Sherbourne Road and Lancaster Gardens in Ellesmere Port in March 2024. In the process, his van made contact with a cyclist’s handlebar.
Christie then pulled up alongside the victim shouting: “Do you know who I am, do you know what I’ll do to you?” Christie continued to follow the victim, and the van hit the back wheel of the bike, causing the victim to fall off the bike and go underneath the vehicle.
After being run over, the victim dragged himself out of the road. Christie stopped the van and started assaulting the victim, telling him not to say anything to anyone about the incident, before driving away from the scene. Police subsequently arrived at the scene and found the cyclist with a broken leg, hip and ankle. Today, he is unable to walk without crutches.
The van was subsequently traced and seized, with Christie arrested two days later. Having been found guilty of section 18 assault (wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm) and dangerous driving, in addition to his six year prison sentence, Christie was also banned from driving for five years and must pass an extended driving test in order to regain his licence.
Suspended sentence for 79-year-old collarbone-breaking driver “rushing home from a tennis game”
A driver who dangerously attempted to overtake a cyclist on a country road, breaking his collarbone, has been given a suspended sentence, BBC North East report.
John Rice, described as a man of both “exemplary” character and community standing as well as a man with historic speeding offences was running late returning from a tennis match and was due to take his wife to choir practice.
Half a mile from his home near Stannington, Northumberland and “out of a “degree of impatience and frustration” according to the judge, Rice, who made the “extremely poor decision to overtake” the cyclist travelling at 20mph – a “more than adequate” speed for any driver.
But he concluded Rice’s botched overtake on a bend led to the cyclist being hit by Rice’s wing mirror and not, as the 79-year-old suggested, that he “simply wobbled and fell off” out of possible shock of a close pass.
The judge concluded Rice had shown “very deep remorse” for injuring the cyclist and that he was “highly regarded” by all who knew him. He added Rice would have been jailed had he deliberately hit the cyclist out of frustration. He was instead given a two year driving ban and ordered to pay £4,830 in court costs.
“Too often, road traffic offences are treated as second-tier crimes, even when the consequences can be life-changing”
One common theme from almost all court cases we cover, whether mentioned by the prosecution, during sentencing remarks or victim impact statements is how life-changingly devastating for so many people one moment of inattention, distraction or dangerous driving can be. Campaigners and cyclists alike have regularly questioned sentencing severity for road offences, Cycling UK telling us that “too often, road traffic offences are treated as second-tier crimes”.
Sarah Whitebread, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Cycling UK, said: “That mindset has contributed to dangerous and careless drivers reducing or even avoiding disqualification through claims of ‘exceptional hardship’. Speeding, driving while exhausted or passing dangerously close to someone aren’t harmless slip-ups, they are decisions that can leave families grieving.
“If someone drives dangerously and puts lives at risk, taking them off the road for a period is not excessive. It’s common sense. The courts’ first duty must be to protect the public and if the government is serious about meeting casualty reduction targets set out in the Road Safety Strategy, sentencing has to match the seriousness of the harm.”
Sentencing is a much-discussed topic on road.cc, particularly with regard to the punishments handed down to drivers who seriously injure or kill cyclists.
This series is a regular round-up of sentencing stories that helps us to collate information for our more in-depth coverage around sentencing, but we’re hoping it could also be of use to readers, academics, and those in the legal profession as a starting point for analysing the state of play when it comes to sentencing for driving and cycling offences.
Much like our Near Miss of the Day series, we’re not doing this for ‘clicks’ – but we make no secret of the fact that the article format is designed to get attention, and generate discussion.
Though road.cc acknowledges there is a problem with inconsistent and lenient sentences for killer drivers, we’re intentionally steering clear of editorialising in our reporting here, which means we’re not just going to be selecting cases where we’ve decided in-house that the punishment didn’t fit the crime.
The aim is to provide a true picture of how people are sentenced for driving and cycling offences for further analysis. Are sentences wildly inconsistent depending on the judge? Are sentences becoming more lenient, or harsher over time? We can’t change the law, or a judge’s decision – but change starts with a discussion, and an acknowledgement the current system isn’t fit for purpose. This is why the maximum sentence for death by dangerous driving was increased to life imprisonment in 2022, and why the Highway Code was updated to include minimum passing distances for drivers around cyclists and the Hierarchy of Road users.
2 thoughts on “15-year-olds riding illegal bikes leave cyclist with life-changing injuries… and get banned from driving; 18-week suspended sentence for drink-driver who broke cyclist’s skull; 3 years jail for TikTok-distracted driver: road.cc sentencing round-up”
‘Sarah Whitebread, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Cycling UK, said: “That mindset has contributed to dangerous and careless drivers reducing or even avoiding disqualification through claims of ‘exceptional hardship’. Speeding, driving while exhausted or passing dangerously close to someone aren’t harmless slip-ups, they are decisions that can leave families grieving.’
Took the words out of my mouth. Motornormativity is so deeply embedded in our society that even killing someone with a car can be excused.
A perfect example is:
‘John Rice, described as a man of both “exemplary” character and community standing as well as a man with historic speeding offences…….’
You can’t have an exemplary character and break the law: unless it’s only crimes committed while driving. Putting other people’s lives at risk is utterly unacceptable: unless you’re driving. How can you have ‘community standing’ when you disrespect everyone in that community and deliberately put their lives at risk?
We need a massive change in our society, to make dangerous driving socially unacceptable, which would make the changes to smoking look like a walk in the park. How can we make dangerous driving be viewed as bad by the majority of the population?
‘3 years in prison for TikTok-distracted driver who paralysed cyclist’
But cycling mikey is abhored and chastised for reporting drivers who do exactly that. He should be given a medal.