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Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)12 months in jail for red light jumping cyclist who left 9-year-old girl with fractured skull
A Bournemouth cyclist has been jailed for 12 months following an incident in which he rode through a red traffic light and collided with a nine-year-old girl, leaving her with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. Philip Benwell, aged 38, had pleaded guilty last month to the charge of causing grievous bodily harm.
Bournemouth Crown Court heard that Benwell had been cycling "erratically and very fast" on his road bike as he rode downhill towards a crossing at Branksome Beach on 26 July this year, reports the Bournemouth Echo. He estimated his speed at 30mph.
Earlier reports suggested that he mounted the pavement, but according to the newspaper’s latest report, Benwell “veered into the opposite lane” as he neared the traffic lights, just as nine-year-old Leila Crofts was crossing with her au pair, named as a Miss Canibano. The pair were out for a walk with the family’s dog.
Initially, Benwell fled the scene but handed himself to a police station the following day after officers made an appeal. Sentencing Benwell him, Judge Peter Johnson said: "Miss Canibano was blameless, Leila was blameless.
"You are the only one who is to blame. This was an incredibly selfish criminal act. You took a serious risk in order to save a few seconds on your journey.
"Having struck her you callously picked up the bike and continued on your journey, leaving her lying unconscious in the road.
"This fractured her skull and shattered her family's life in one instant."
In a report read out to the court, a probation officer said that Benwell "shows an incredible degree of remorse. I have never interviewed anyone so sincerely remorseful for their wrong doing, whose concern is so focused on the victim rather than themselves.”
Leila spent two weeks in intensive care at Southampton General Hospital. The incident has left her with problems with her vision as well as her memory.
Her mother, Chanine Boulton, quoted on Mail Online, said: “'After the accident we feared she may have been left with disabilities but she is doing incredibly well.
“She had to re-learn how to walk and read music which she has now done, and has been home schooled since the accident. She is returning to school in January and is keen to do a 10k run to raise money for charity.”
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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47 comments
Good result. I hope the young lady makes a full recovery.
I always thought you were supposed to be able to stop in
the distance you could see ..... obviously not ... what a
complete toe rag. If he'd done that to my daughter I'm not
sure I would be able to control my reactions ........
He got what he deserved sorry afterwards is not very strong mitigation for leaving his victim.
However I agree the same uncompromising approach must be take with motorists who cause similar damage and injury just to save a few seconds off their journeys
And to keep some perspective...this is the annual " cyclist is a twat and hurts someone" story whilst other road users are killing and seriously injuring 70 people everyday.
Reading the story the cyclist says he was braking but couldn't stop, which looking at the hill I could understand, that would make it the sort of incident that is an accepted risk for car drivers.
In reality he probably was trying to keep speed up for the hill( wonder if it's a segment) and misjudged the situation.
As the linked story above shows motorist do seem more likely to get away with the unavoidable accident defense.
No one died, lessons have been learned, a year seems about right.
I agree the sentence is light, but also agree with the comment about motorists doing worse and getting away...basically with murder in some cases
Forget the motorist v cyclist thing... This chap left the scene where a child was severely injured there is no excuse. One year... not convinced this is enough.
A car driver injuring a child on red light at a crossing and not stopping would get at least as heavy a sentence.
Nope.
Hit and run on toddler on zebra crossing, 5 months... http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Jail-woman-driver-ran-toddler-pedestri...
That's the only one I can find which went to trial. Most hit-and-runs like this the driver isn't caught. Of course, in this case, the cyclist turned himself in.
and
http://road.cc/content/news/93465-mother-devastated-after-texting-driver..., although not hit and run I find this even more callous
jail-time more for taking the p155 out of the justice system than running over the child
I don't condone his actions by any means but if this was a car driver causing serous injury to a cyclist would this have resulted in a custodial sentence?
Two words to show the disparity of sentencing:
Hope Fennell.
For clarity and nothing to do with this case, how often do motorists get locked up for jumping red lights and knocking people down? I mean, if killing someone rarely results in a custodial sentence (as is often bemoaned here), I'm guessing hardly ever?
"Having struck her you callously picked up the bike and continued on your journey, leaving her lying unconscious in the road."
"shows an incredible degree of remorse. I have never interviewed anyone so sincerely remorseful for their wrong doing, whose concern is so focused on the victim rather than themselves.”
Very odd that he didn't stop in the first place then
Knowing that stretch of road he was probably was doing 30. the crossing is at the bottom of a steep hill on a sharpish left turn. If you don't get it right at speed - and I've seen enough riders do that - you'll easily overshoot
Sentence seems a bit light to me, remorseful or not. He'll be out in 6 months, maybe less. After what he did and then also fled the scene....
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