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Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgSuspended sentence for dog-walker who threatened to kill cyclist on seafront shared-use path
A dog walker who threatened to kill a cyclist in an “unprovoked attack” on a seafront shared-use path has received a suspended jail sentence and been ordered to pay the victim £200 compensation.
The incident happened at Deganwy, near Llandudno, in April last year, reports the North Wales Pioneer.
Mark Albiston, aged 50 and from Conway, pleaded not guilty to common assault but was convicted at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court and handed a 12-week jail sentence suspended for 18 months.
He was also ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work as part of a 12-month community order, under which he will also have to undergo thinking skills and anger management training.
Diane Williams, prosecuting, told the court that Albiston was walking his dog using an extendable leash and made no effort to retract it as Alexander Edwards, 37, approached on his bike.
Mr Edwards said, “Watch your dog,” and in return Albiston swore at him. The cyclist got off his bike, whereupon the defendant grabbed him and pushed him into a thorny bush.
He then pushed him to the ground and seized him by the neck, with Mr Edwards saying he struggled to breathe for around 20 seconds. Albiston also stamped on his chest and threatened to kill him before passers-by came to Mr Edwards’ aid.
The victim had to attend accident and emergency to have a hand injury treated and said he was wary of encountering his attacker again after the incident.
According to a probation officer, Albiston suffered from depression and continued to maintain his innocence. In mitigation, Andrew Hutchison, defending, said that the injury to Mr Edwards’ hand was an exacerbation of a previous injury.
Court chairman Darren Campbell awarded Mr Edwards compensation due to the psychological damage he had suffered, telling Albiston: “Given the offence was completely unprovoked and you demonstrated very little remorse for your action we feel the custody threshold has been passed.
“The reason we are suspending it is because we feel there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
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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29 comments
I have seen Hi Viz jackets/tabards on dogs, the lights on collars and indeed Day-Glo or Reflective extendable leads. Not both Day-Glo and reflective on the extendable leads unfortunately.
Often when riding the dark lanes and bridleways around my neck of the woods, I often see the reflectiveness inherent in dogs eyes before anything else.
The tapetum lucidum, I understand.
Though of course that would mean they are staring at my lights and would be quite dazzled for a few moments.
You'd be surprised at the range of hi-viz products available.
I've sometimes wondered if I'm blinding dogs with my lights, but then I remember that dogs can't look up.
56pamA7.jpg
This just highlights the bigger problem, sharing. We push people on bikes to share with a group of people who also want to go somewhere but at a much lower speed and all on a strip of land massively smaller than that given to other people travelling and taking up the vast majority of it.
However in this case the pedestrian dog owner was reckless, took no account of others and when asked to be careful reacted in such a way that was far more than a simple common assault. Do that to a police officer and you'd get two years easily and likely to be charged as GBH possibly going down to an ABH at worst.
The CPS and our so called justice system are like a burning bag of shit on your doorstep.
Making a welshman undertake a thinking skills course, that's a bit harsh isn't it?
As harsh as casual racism?
Pardon?
Obviously not as harsh as encouraging an English racial bigot to do one. Incidentaly the assaulter did not have a noticably Welsh name and Llandudno has always had a rather large English born population.
Why? You're insecure and fear that they are cleverer and more skillful than you? They probably are.
Get back in your cave ug-boy.
The dog (apparently the more intelligent of the duo) should be charged for failing to keep him under control, and banned from taking him out of the house for a while.
Somewhat lenient for what appears to be abh.
Not exactly a severe sentence, apart from the thinking skills course, which he might have to re-take a few times.
I ride 4 miles of shared use offroad path each way on my commute. Sone dog walkers and dogs are a pest. Dogs running up the path or bounding out of hedges in front of you. Nightmare. Sone owners don't care.
You missed out the 'some'.
Yeah, fair play, I'll edit.
In my experience, almost all. Don't ever criticise a dog owner for not being able to control their 30kg savage animal with a mouth full of teeth!
As a regular cyclist and also dog owner, I have to point out that some riders really don't show much sense on using shared use paths. They bomb along at high speed and get shouty when they have to slow down for kids or dogs. I have an extendible lead for my dog though I don't like it and don't use it. I do keep him on a short lead a lot of the time, especially now as there are a lot of squirrels around and he's a whippet and wants to try and catch them. But sometimes he's off the lead and if he is, I can't always make sure what he'll do.
Children and dogs are unpredictable. Adult cyclists need to show some common sense and ride slowly on shared use paths. Bear in mind that council bylaws require cyclists to give way to pedestrians on shared use paths.
Some dog owners certainly are irresponsible and as a dog owner myself, I get annoyed by them too. But we all have to get on together.
I think the problem is with how society views shared-use paths. Mouthy motorists think that cyclists MUST use them; arrogant cyclists think they have priority on the cycling side and will go as fast as they can (after all, they're designed for cycle traffic, right?); clueless pedestrians walk three or four abreast and block the paths; clueless dog owners use extending leads without appreciating the danger that poses to cyclists.
Unfortunately, educating everyone is unlikely to work, so the best bet is to proceed with caution on shared-use paths and use the roads if you want to go fast - it's what roads are designed for.
Absolutely, education. Learning to share is a big part of the Primary School curriculum. Not everybody makes the grade.
As a dog owner and regular cyclist, it really ticks me off that people will walk their dogs off the lead in the pitch black without using even a torch on my local (and unlit) shared-use path.
(Sorry, that's a bit OT, but a bloke with three black labradors really pi$$ed me off on Friday night...).
Do they do hi-viz/reflective jackets for dogs? (Helmets?)
I do appreciate those LEDs on dog-collars. Often they are the only indication I have of the presence of both the dog and the dog walker. Hmmm, thinking out loud, wonder if there's a market for dog leads with electroluminiscent wire?
There's a bunch of USB-rechargable leads on Amazon/FleaBay etc.
You can also get dog helmets if you want.
tactical dogindex.jpeg
When I'm doing an early morning run before sunrise with my dog, I clip a small cycle light to his collar. It's a big help to me too as if he dashes off after a squirrel, I can see where he's going from a distance.
I misread that, and my first thought was, "That seems a bit cruel..."
This all started out because the guy was using one of these dangerous trip wire extending dogleads. yet Rue 56 of the highway code advises "Do not let a dog out on the road on its own. Keep it on a short lead when walking on the pavement, road or path shared with cyclists or horse riders"
It's high time this was emphasised and publicised much more, the things are a bloody menace
'Common assault', what a load of pony, the guy restricted his breathing and stamped on his chest ffs
Rex v Donavan Judge Swift defines Bodily Harm in the court of Appeal thus:
"For this purpose, we think that "bodily harm" has its ordinary meaning and includes any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the prosecutor. Such hurt or injury need not be permanent, but must, no doubt, be more than merely transient and trifling."
It's very clear this is not trifling, this was a sustained physical attack and lucky that the cyclist didn't come off with worse injuries. Yet another disgusting outcome and yet again proves the CPS are piss weak/clueless.
Seems like you can't voice a concern to anyone these days without it being taken as an affront worthy of verbal/physical abuse.
£200 compensation is derisory. The victim could always pursue a civil action but the cost and hassle would put me off tbh if was me.
Worth going no win no fee just for the extra grief it'll cause him.
Good. And if he is not rehabilitated? At least he is out of pocket and having to give up some spare time and to think about his actions. Chances are clowns like this don’t learn and will be in front of a magistrate again at some point. You’d think that by the age of 50 you’d be able to curb the testosterone fuelled anger of a younger man...
PP