# Michael Gledhill verdict.



## glenn forger (24 Oct 2014)

http://road.cc/content/news/133757-road-rage-driver-who-left-cyclist-brain-damaged-found-guilty-jury


*A motorist who denied being subject to “road rage” when his car struck a cyclist, leaving the victim with serious head injuries from which he may never recover and in a wheelchair, has been convicted by a jury of causing serious injury through dangerous driving.*

Former soldier Michael Gledhill, aged 23, was convicted of the offence this afternoon at Leeds Crown Court.

He had initially maintained that the car he was driving made no contact with the bike that 69-year-old John Radford was riding, but accepted that was the case after being presented with scientific evidence.

The court had heard that Gledhill was driving on the A616 to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, where his girlfriend was due to undergo a scan on his second child, when he became involved in an altercation with Mr Radford in July last year.

The driver admitted sounding his horn at the cyclist, whom he claimed was “weaving” across the road, saying, “I beeped my horn so he knew I was there so I could try and get around him,” according to a report of the trial in the _Huddersfield Daily Examiner_.

He admitted that he had exchanged words with the cyclist but couldn’t recall exactly what was said, and that it involved “generally name-calling, probably some swearing.”

Gledhill, at the time a Lance Corporal in the Yorkshire Regiment who was awaiting his discharge from the army, insisted he had not driven at Mr Radford on purpose in an attempt to frighten him.

*Angry*
But on cross-examination by prosecuting counsel Sam Andrews, he concurred that the victim only became angry after he had sounded his horn.

Mr Andrews put it to him: “At that minute, your thought was giving this man stick wasn’t it?” said Mr Andrews.

Gledhill replied, “Yes.”

He was then asked how traces of paint from the bumper of his car were found on Mr Radford’s bike and replied, “I don’t know.”


----------



## Drago (24 Oct 2014)

Of course he knows, lying little gob*****.

He was a squaddie at the time of the incident, they should make him serve his sentence in a military jail.


----------



## glenn forger (24 Oct 2014)

A strange and terrible case. Gledhills dad was in the car and wasn't called as a witness. I can see an argument for this being attempted murder, it was a sustained verbal assault, Gledhill slowed down to keep pace and continue screaming invective, then according to a witness aimed his car at the pensioner on the bike. Deliberate. Calling it "road rage" dismisses it somehow. And remember it all stemmed from Gledhill presumably annoyed at being delayed. So annoyed he slowed down to prolong the encounter. Just senseless. Five years in prison is justified here, I think.


----------



## steveindenmark (24 Oct 2014)

Why they had to add his occupation is a mystery. It has no bearing on anything.neither has the fact that he is awaiting discharge from the army. Totally irrelevant and perfectly normal.

His wife has just had a baby which will lessen the chance of a prison term..

I bet everyone concerned wish they could turn the clock back to 30 seconds before the accident. So sad and totally avoidable.


----------



## Tim Hall (24 Oct 2014)

steveindenmark said:


> Why they had to add his occupation is a mystery. It has no bearing on anything.neither has the fact that he is awaiting discharge from the army. Totally irrelevant and perfectly normal.
> 
> His wife has just had a baby which will lessen the chance of a prison term..
> 
> I bet everyone concerned wish they could turn the clock back to 30 seconds before the *accident*. So sad and totally avoidable.


Turning the clock back doesn't happen, unfortunately. But it wasn't an accident, it was deliberate.


----------



## steveindenmark (24 Oct 2014)

I know what you mean but it was a RTA.


----------



## jarlrmai (24 Oct 2014)

Even the police officially call them collisions (RTC) these days, due to the nature of the word accident.


----------



## glenn forger (5 Nov 2014)

Sadly, Mr Radford died last night. RIP.


----------



## jarlrmai (5 Nov 2014)




----------



## cd365 (5 Nov 2014)

5 years is not long enough. I cannot for the life of me understand why people who use their cars as a weapon, like in this case, is not charged with a Section 18 Wounding with Intent.


----------



## glenn forger (5 Nov 2014)

I don't know if this horrible development will mean fresh charges.


----------



## GrumpyGregry (5 Nov 2014)

Take the car out of the equation and it is a charge of manslaughter.
Put another weapon, other than a car being used as one, into the young man's hands, and it is murder.


----------



## Rooster1 (6 Nov 2014)

I hope I never have to experience this kind of horror.


----------



## glenn forger (6 Nov 2014)

http://road.cc/content/news/134746-cyclist-hurt-road-rage-attack-last-year-dies


----------



## Smurfy (6 Nov 2014)

Drago said:


> Of course he knows, lying little gob*****.
> 
> He was a squaddie at the time of the incident, *they should make him serve his sentence in a military jail*.


Would that be significantly worse than civilian jail?


----------



## vernon (7 Nov 2014)

Further charges are being considered.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-29955074


----------



## glasgowcyclist (9 Jan 2015)

Gledhill has now been charged with causing death by dangerous driving.


GC


----------



## Inertia (12 Nov 2015)

Well he has admitted causing the death, due to be sentenced 12 January.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-34798621


----------



## mickle (12 Nov 2015)

farking hell.


----------



## jarlrmai (12 Nov 2015)

Should be manslaughter.


----------



## glasgowcyclist (12 Nov 2015)

mickle said:


> farking hell.




I know, he might even get points on his licence...

GC


----------



## Kestevan (12 Nov 2015)

Should have been charged with murder. As it is he will be "credited" for pleading guilty (despite the fact he pleaded not guilty the first time), slapped on the wrist and will probably serve a minimal sentence.

The thing that really scares me though is that in a very few years this aggressive prick will be back behind the wheel on roads used by my wife and kids.....he should be banned for life but won't be.


----------



## glenn forger (12 Nov 2015)

Completely horrible and stupid and pointless.


----------



## Andy_R (12 Nov 2015)

YellowTim said:


> Would that be significantly worse than civilian jail?


You have no idea....my dad was a Redcap....the most gentle loving father a kid could ever have and would probably crawl over broken glass for my mum, but a real barsteward when it came to pongos behaving badly


----------



## Buck (12 Jan 2016)

Well, the sentence is finally in : -

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/family-john-radford-lives-turned-10721735


----------



## Spinney (12 Jan 2016)

Now they just need the jail sentence and the driving ban to run consecutively, not concurrently (which I understand is usually the case). That report didn't say which.


----------



## Buck (12 Jan 2016)

Agreed. On that sentence he'll be out in two years most likely?


----------



## fimm (12 Jan 2016)

Jailed for four years and eight months and disqualified from driving for four years.
After pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.


----------



## Pale Rider (12 Jan 2016)

Spinney said:


> Now they just need the jail sentence and the driving ban to run consecutively, not concurrently (which I understand is usually the case). That report didn't say which.



Increasingly, driving bans are ordered to run 'from when you are released from prison'.

But it's still fairly new legislation, so without being in court to hear sentence passed, it's difficult to be sure when the driving ban starts.



Buck said:


> Agreed. On that sentence he'll be out in two years most likely?



Out in two years and four months, but time spent on remand - if there is any - will count.


----------



## Kestevan (12 Jan 2016)

Typical.... suspect the prison sentence is about all that could be hoped for, given the courts penchant for leniency whenever a car is used as a weapon....I wonder how long he would have got if he'd belted John with a baseball bat.... I suspect significantly longer.

I do wonder though if courts are ever going to start handing out meaningful bans? Gledhill should never, ever be allowed behind the wheel again.....


----------



## jefmcg (12 Jan 2016)

On another thread about this I wondered what the sentence would have been if they had argued outside the vehicle, and John had picked up his bike over his head and killed Gledhill with it.

He most certainly would not have been charged with a traffic offence.


----------



## kiriyama (12 Jan 2016)

I ride past this spot often and always give the white bike a wave or a nod that I give every other cyclist. 

This part of the road seems to be hotspot for unnecessary abuse.


----------



## Buck (12 Jan 2016)

kiriyama said:


> I ride past this spot often and always give the white bike a wave or a nod that I give every other cyclist.
> 
> This part of the road seems to be hotspot for unnecessary abuse.



Me too and a quick thought too. Simple sign of respect of me.

It is a road that is faster than the speed limit if that makes sense - Drivers coming from New Mill/Honley or Lockwood are frustrated by the time they get to this point


----------



## Spinney (12 Jan 2016)

Buck said:


> Me too and a quick thought too. Simple sign of respect of me.
> 
> *It is a road that is faster than the speed limit if that makes sense - Drivers coming from New Mill/Honley or Lockwood are frustrated by the time they get to this point*


And that's what's wrong with most drivers (including me at times). Some kind of sense of entitlement that we must be able to go at the fastest speed the road (width, bends, surface) will allow - and anyone (tourists bimbling along, cyclists, _anyone driving slower than we want to_) is in our way and _should not be_.
And in some people, unfortunately, that translates into road rage...


----------



## Buck (12 Jan 2016)

True.


----------



## night cycler (14 Jan 2016)

Chairman of the Huddersfield branch cycling charity CTC, Mr. John Redford was the victim of a road rage attack. After deliberately being driven in to after an altercation, he was left in a vegetative state until his death last year.
http://metro.co.uk/2016/01/13/ex-so...him-deliberately-in-road-rage-attack-5620626/

*Copied in from a duplicate thread by a moderator.*


----------



## flake99please (14 Jan 2016)

Should have made the sentence 10 times longer.


----------

