Welcome to our monthly 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.
Man who “thought it would be funny” to push cyclist off her bike and over seawall, causing serious injury, avoids jail
On the Isle of Wight, a man who pushed a woman over a seawall, unprovoked, has been sentenced for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, the Isle of Wight County Press report.
Daniel Dickons assaulted the cyclist, in her 60s, on Culver Parade, in Sandown, on 5th August last year. His push sent the cyclist falling 5-6ft down onto the beach below, with her bike landing on top of her. After the arrival of the air ambulance, she was taken to hospital. The fall left her with a sizable chin scar, neck injury, black eye and an exposed kneecap. Dickons was initially detained by a member of the public before police arrived to arrest him.
> Man arrested after female cyclist “forcibly” pushed off seawall, causing her to plunge several feet onto beach
He reportedly told his arresting officers, “I thought it would be funny, so I did it.”
Dickons who has six previous convictions dating back to 2008, was handed a 52-week jail term, suspended for 24 months, pending a six-month alcohol treatment and 35 rehabilitation days. He was also ordered to pay £1,000 compensation.
Defending, his lawyer told the court his client had made a full admission to police and expressed remorse immediately, adding Dickson had not offended in the 13 years prior to the assault.
Unqualified, uninsured, unfit drink and drug driver handed seven year sentence for death of cyclist
A 20-year-old driver who drove on the wrong side of the road and went “straight through” a cyclist, killing him, has been handed a seven year custodial sentence, as reported by BBC Wales, the Barry and District News, Wales Online and several other outlets.
Teddy Picton was found with alcohol and cocaine in his bloodstream on the morning of 17th May 2025 after hitting 72-year Brad Craven who was out riding with his brother in Grangetown, Cardiff. Picton was not qualified or insured to drive the car – which belonged to the woman in the passenger seat – but drove because she was “intoxicated.” The court also heard he was distracted by the passenger who attempted to kiss him and grab his leg.
He subsequently drove on the wrong side of the road and struck Craven, a retired social worker, who was wearing a hi-vis jacket and riding close to the kerb. He fractured his skull and died five weeks later in hospital, having missed his wife’s funeral that he was in the midst of organising.
In a victim impact statement, Craven’s brother Phillip, who has also since died, wrote that he caught up with his brother to find him “gasping and choking on his own blood.”
“This was no accident, this young man chose to drive this car without a licence. He knew he had been drinking the night before and he had taken cocaine, and he still chose to drive. They stood and gawped at my brother while he lay dying.”
The sentencing came after Picton pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving. Due to his age, Picton will initially serve his sentence at a young offenders’ institution. He is currently due to be released on license after serving two-thirds of his sentence, though the judge noted that could be reduced due to impending law changes. He was also disqualified from driving for nine years and eight months.
10 years prison for driver who killed cyclist whilst attempting dangerous overtake
A driver who killed a cyclist on a rural road in Ilkley, Yorkshire has been jailed for 10 years. Adrian Stocks was training for a charity bike ride in April 2023 when 19-year-old Sohail Johangir struck him with his Audi Q2, the BBC and North Yorkshire Police report.
Stocks, who died at the scene, was followed by a white Skoda which slowed as he prepared to turn right to cross Denton Bridge in Ilkley. As he began his turn, Jahangir sped past the Skoda on the wrong side of the road and hit Stocks, who suffered fatal brain injuries.
Jahangir told police following Stocks’ death that he would never drive again. But in addition to pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, he was also sentenced for dangerous driving and Class A drug dealing offences committed whilst on bail.
After he was spotted by police overtaking a queue of traffic waiting to turn into a junction in 2024, a police chase ensued when he refused to pull over. During the six-minute chase through Bradford city centre, police estimated he drove at speeds of more than 100mph and ran through at least three red lights, and head-on into oncoming traffic.
Jahangir’s lawyer told the court his client had committed an “avoidable mistake” and wished he could “turn back the clock”.
Detective Constable Richard Grey, from North Yorkshire Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Team, said: “This case highlights how utterly tragic these incidents are. I’ve come to learn over the time since this collision, what a well-respected and much-loved man Adrian Stocks was to all who knew him.
“Adrian set out that day to get some training for a charity event he was taking part in and was doing nothing wrong. He was riding along, using the road in a responsible and safe manner as was described by the witness who also did exactly the right thing by slowing and allowing him space to turn right.
“The one who did not do the right thing was Sohail Jahangir. His actions have caused this tragedy and from that day onward will have lasting effects on all who have been involved.”
Jahangir, now 23, was sentenced to seven years and seven months for causing Stocks’ death by dangerous driving, ten months for dangerous driving in relation to the car chase, and two years for dealing heroin and crack cocaine. He was also disqualified from driving for 15 years and two months and ordered to forfeit three vehicles. He will be required to take an extended driving test before he can regain his license.
“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 regards 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.
