- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)Man who killed Horsham cyclist convicted of causing death by careless driving
The driver involved in a fatal collision with Horsham cyclist Michael Dixon in December of last year has been convicted of causing death by careless driving at Lewes Crown Court, reports the West Sussex County Times. Zija Lushi, also known as Luigi Dannile, a 26-year-old man from Copsale, was given a 14-month jail term and a 12-month driving ban.
Dannile’s silver Citroen C2 car hit Dixon shortly before 11am while the latter was cycling along Kerves Lane in Horsham on Monday, December 8. Land and air ambulance paramedics attended but sadly the 65-year-old died at the scene.
Dannile, an Albanian, was in the UK illegally and court staff said that arrangements were being made to deport him as soon as he completes his jail term. While he was convicted of causing death by careless driving, he denied and was cleared of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving. At an earlier hearing, he had also pleaded guilty to driving while unlicensed and uninsured, although he received no separate penalty for that offence.
Dixon was a retired RAF engineer with a wife and two children. A statement from his family, read out in court, said that since retiring he had taken up flying as a hobby, had become an experienced cyclist, and worked shifts for the Samaritans.
Sentencing, Recorder George Lawson-Rogers told Dannile:
“It goes without saying that this is a tragic case, resulting in the death of a much valued husband, father, and grandfather, a man who, it is clear, still had very much to contribute, both to others and to his own self.
“You have shown yourself to be someone who has no respect for the laws of this country. You came to this country from Albania, on false documents, in breach of the laws of this country.
“A man’s life was taken because you thought your desire for a cigarette was more important than obeying the laws of this country, that you came to in search of a better life. Such is your gratitude.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- HLaB 1 sec ago
“The visibility thing has been the main thing that the Clifford Bridge Road residents are worried about, I don't know how you get round that,” she...
- FionaJJ 5 min 3 sec ago
Officers from other law enforcement agencies will usually request police back-up if they anticipate an arrest, but warranted officers do not need...
- mdavidford 20 min 21 sec ago
Can't believe anyone would get confused over them. I mean, the Sainz were all there...
- Scot 39 min 39 sec ago
I was the support rider with paddy and we did have 3 other Raleigh Choppers as back-up including a 5-speed and different gears to swap out. The 5...
- hawkinspeter 59 min 3 sec ago
Garmin can refuse to transfer data to Strava, but they can't stop you doing so (unless they use a proprietary format that can't be processed easily...
- brooksby 1 hour 21 min ago
https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/car-left-balancing-on-......
- zweiblumen 2 hours 13 sec ago
I do try not to jump on the bandwagon, but this is ludicrous. The problem that they identify is illegally modified bikes: how can banning legal...
- anke2 2 hours 1 min ago
Sure. Like it's interesting to wonder about the driving for driving (track-days), driving for playing golf, driving for a ramble, driving for a pub...
- Jogle 2 hours 26 min ago
And a couple of small plastic bollards will stop the lorries going anywhere near the bridge. ...
- Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells 2 hours 28 min ago
Or completely give up.... and buy a emtb, which will break within 12 months, so you can lounge on the sofa guilt free 👍
Add new comment
11 comments
Very true. I was in a magistrate's court a few years ago, where a driver was being charged with 'causing death by careless driving' as she had driven into the back of a 28 year old cyclist one morning and killed him. She did not have a driving licence or insurance. Regardless of that, the prosecution had to try and prove that she has been driving dangerously. The magistrate reprimanded the CPS lawyer for labouring the fact that she had not passed a driving test and distressing the defendant. The CPS lawyer established that she was late for work and in a hurry, that she had not slept much the night before, but in the absence of witnesses was not able to disprove her assertion that the cyclist had suddenly swerved in front of her and effectively killed himself. She got off scot-free. She was not even sanctioned for driving without a licence. He was the only child of devastated parents who were stunned and bewildered at the end of the two day case. Some time after this the law was changed to make killing while driving without insurance or licence an offence in itself regardless of standard of driving, but the injustice of that case still makes me shudder.
Unlicenced and uninsured means they're not a driver. So why prosecute using driving laws. Use proper ones. Assault with a deadly weapon. GBH with intent.
14 months in jail, probably serve 7, might even have already done that on remand. Disgusting.
A VERY good example of how the authorities (cops, courts) do not care if a person lives or dies, or is killed or not, as long as the killer uses a car to do it.
Even without a driving licence, using a car to kill gets you off the responsibility for what you have done. Car users - legal or not - are worshipped by the system at the expense of all others, even to the point of the death of innocents.
Watch An Hour To Save Your Life on BBC and see for yourself the reality of cops not caring if cyclists live or die. It's us that watch them die, it's us that tell their loved ones they've died.
Try it once pal, then come back on here with your nonsense.
I don't think any (there *are* exceptions) individual officers don't care about these things. Cops, as people, usually care a very great deal.
Cops, as the 'system'/organisation, does not care very much, the CPS even less.
Since you ask, I shall. Cops do indeed "watch". I have been run over in Leeds a full, and terrifying, 16 times. On 4 occasions I was hospitalised. On 6 occasions a cop did exactly that - watched. In one unforgettable case, a cop "watched" me crawl off the carriageway, still tangled in my bike with a handlebar-sized hole in my abdomen, while barking orders at me to get off the road and not get in the way of traffic. He then stood by, not offering any help at all while a passer-by went to a phone box to summon an ambulance. He didn't radio anyone, and refused to record a report, insisting that I visit the nearest police station to start the process (I couldn't stand unaided for a week). I didn't enjoy writhing in pain as he "watched". He did not attempt to stop the driver from leaving the scene.
In some other cases, the police were called but refused to attend (because I wasn't dead, I assume, unless that's "nonsense" and you would like to give me the real reason?) and so the offending driver just left the scene unchallenged, never to be contacted by anyone.
In all interaction with police on every occasion, I was met with massive hostility, as if news of the crime, or my injury, was a huge and unnecessary inconvenience for the cops. In EVERY SINGLE CASE, the police refused to record an incident, or indeed write anything down at all.
Is that enough "nonsense" for you? If I died, would that make it OK?
Trying to complain about police behaviour after the event is quite difficult when the individual cop didn't record it happening at all.
As I said, it's "the authorities". The system doesn't function. And the "exceptions", the many cops who detest bike riders, are inexcusable despite not being 100% of the complement of officers working. The CPS is even worse; an uncaring, unfeeling machine that just moves injuries and deaths of victims around on pieces of paper.
Agreed. How was he cleared of causing death charge whilst unlicensed & therefore unqualified to drive?
12 m for someones life in this case is a joke, just not a funny one
Law needs changing. If unlicensed and uninsured, then that should be enough to be classed as "dangerous" as you are not qualified to operate a vehicle.
Handing out bans to unlicensed drivers is a joke.
Spot on - The second an unlicensed / uninsured driver gets behind the wheel they've knowingly committed an offense before they've even closed the door. Everything that happens afterwards is dangerous by definition.
Yeah these are indeed tragic cases made even more tragic by CPS and courts who are unable or unwilling or just cba to pursue and secure convictions for more serious offences and when guilt is established the sentences are frankly pathetic. He should have got at least 10 years jail without remission and then an order for deportation on his release.
Condolences to the Dixon family and shame on the Criminal Justice System.