Hertfordshire cyclist pushed into canal in unprovoked assault

Im always wary on towpaths, and will never pass on the water side of the path.

Unfortunately there is something in human nature that will always lead to this sort of thing.

Hope the police catch him, but it doesnt sound like it will be easy.

I fell into the Bridgewater canal this time last year, fortunately the bike remained on the towpath. It's almost impossible to pull yourself up onto the coping stones, you can't get a foothold on anything. Fortunately, someone helped pull me out, but if it had been at night I'd have had to swim to the opposite bank and find my way back on foot - with a couple of grand of mountain bike on its own for an hour or so, you can imagine how that would have gone.

I hope they get the scum who did this.

It is highly probably the bike has nothing to do the attack. If you are prepared to push a cyclist into freezing waters - not even knowing if they can swim - then they could just as easily do it to anyone on foot, an old person, a child.

This is a very serious incident and they should be scouring cctv and getting out on the street to catch this screwed up sicko. Its times like this when you wish you were on hand to witness something like this and pummel the crap out of the culprit.

It is highly probably the bike has nothing to do the attack. If you are prepared to push a cyclist into freezing waters - not even knowing if they can swim - then they could just as easily do it to anyone on foot, an old person, a child.

This is a very serious incident and they should be scouring cctv and getting out on the street to catch this screwed up sicko. Its times like this when you wish you were on hand to witness something like this and pummel the crap out of the culprit.

Was she wearing a life jacket?

What can the Police do if witnesses don't come forward? The issue isn't the Police, imo, its the Courts(and CPS/PF) that let people down. Poor Prosecutors who would rather lets criminals plea to lesser charges than do their jobs and prosecute criminals fully.

It [wouldn't happen|only happened] [if|because] [she was [not] wearing [a helmet|hi-viz|Urbanist]|[hanging's too good for motorists]|[[Boris Johnson|Joanna Lumley]]]

Get a rear facing camera and hope it is a waterproof one. I dont mess around anymore and am documenting rides for my own protection. The police and the authorities cannot be trusted anymore to look out for us since they are too busy eating donuts and building bombs as well as starting wars then to deal with the lives of cyclists. This is bound to get me on some S^&^-list in GCHQ. Tin hat? Think again!

I do hope the police takes this very seriously. The chances of her drowning in the cold canal water was significant; this is a highly disturbing unprovoked assault.