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Two arrested after BB gun attack leaves Sussex cyclist seriously injured

Rider still in hospital with serious head injuries after incident in St Leonards more than a fortnight ago

Police in Sussex have arrested two men after a cyclist was seriously injured by a ball bearing fired from a BB gun in St Leonards earlier this month.

The 65-year-old victim sustained a serious head injury in the incident, which happened as he rode along Bexhill Road at around 6.20pm on the evening of Friday 10 July.

He was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital and remains there in what police describe as a “serious but stable condition.”

In a separate incident the following day, Saturday 11 July, a 37-year-old man got in touch with police to say that he had ben hit by a pellet from a BB gun, fired by the a male occupant of a passing vehicle.

That incident happened at around 12.30pm on Mount Pleasant Road in nearby Hastings, and the man did not sustain a serious injury.

On Sunday 12 July, officers arrested a 26-year-old man from St Leonards on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, possession of a Class A drug, possession of a Class B drug, possession of an imitation firearm in a public place and possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas/electrical incapacitation device.

The man was released on conditional bail until August 8 while officers continue their enquiries.

Last Sunday 26 July, police arrested a second man in connection with the incident, a 23-year-old from Maidstone, on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He was released on conditional bail until 21 August.

Officers have appealed for any witnesses to either incident, or persons with any other information, to contact them online or on the non-emergency number 101, quoting Operation Falmouth.

Anyone with relevant video footage or photos can submit them to police via this link.

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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23 comments

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Gus T | 3 years ago
2 likes

If the evidence supports the people being arrested then no doubt that the charges will include firearms offences, whilst BB/air guns are not classed as firearms for licencing purposes they are classed as firearms if used in criminal actions.

 

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ktache | 3 years ago
7 likes

Shouldn't this be one of those comments are closed sort of articles.

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eburtthebike | 3 years ago
6 likes

You have to wonder at the mentality of these people; are they so gullible and easily influenced that they believe the vomit-spewing so-called presenters on various right-wing radio stations?  Maybe as part of the government's new push for cycling they could ban hate speech from podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men?

Well done to the police for what appears to be fast decisive action, but I'm not sure why such an apparently dangerous individual is out on bail.

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Cdl888 replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
1 like

If they've been bailed it simply means that the investigation isn't complete and the investigators need more time to do so. In certain circumstances charges can be sought before an investigation is complete, called a threshold test decision however there are strict criteria set out by the  CPS for such a decision and there could be any number of reasons why that wasn't appropriate. The seriousness alone is not a reason for a threshold test decision unfortunately. 

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Titanus replied to Cdl888 | 3 years ago
0 likes

I do wonder what the "serious injuries" were? You would have to be very lucky (or unlucky) to get someone in the eye. Typically you woul not sustain "serious injury" from the actual shot. The shot would likely have caused a fall, whih can obviously result in serious injury. Fuckin hate these vague articles.

Either way, a very serious offence. Not someone I would like to have allowed to roam the streets. Maybe one day an actual judge will get stabbed, ran over, asaulted, raped etc.  Straying off topic now but to think that this country used to actually hang it's worst criminals by the neck. Why'd we stop? Nowadays we put them in a room to share a toilet and and become a homosexual.  What so bad about making murderers dead?

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eburtthebike replied to Titanus | 3 years ago
13 likes

Titanus wrote:

Straying off topic now but to think that this country used to actually hang it's worst criminals by the neck. Why'd we stop?

The fact that so many of them weren't guilty?  The Birmingham six would be dead now if you had your way, but they were completely innocent.  It's hard enough to pardon someone who's still alive, even more difficult if they aren't.

You might like to read the book "Arthur and George" by Julian Barnes to find out just how corrupt and mistaken our laughably called justice system is, and how regularly innocent people are convicted.  It details the story from a hundred years ago, but the system hasn't changed, and there are plenty of cases where the police decide someone is guilty and set out to prove it, Colin Stagg being fitted up for the murder of Rachel Nickell for instance.

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mdavidford replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
9 likes

Also

Titanus wrote:

Nowadays we put them in a room to ... become a homosexual.

This is not a thing.

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nicmason replied to Titanus | 3 years ago
4 likes

bb guns can be very dangerous.

From the wiki below.

Most BB-firing airguns can shoot faster than 60 m/s (200 ft/s). Some airguns have the ability to fire considerably faster, even beyond 170 m/s (560 ft/s).[3][citation needed] Although claims are often exaggerated, a few airguns can actually fire a standard 0.177 caliber lead pellet faster than 320 m/s (1,000 ft/s), but these are generally not BB-firing guns.

A BB with a velocity of 45 m/s (150 ft/s) has skin-piercing capability, and a velocity reaching 60 m/s (200 ft/s) can fracture bone.[4] The potential exists for killing someone; this potential increases with velocity, but also rapidly decreases with distance. The effective penetrating range of a BB gun with a muzzle velocity of 120 to 180 m/s (390 to 590 ft/s) is approximately 18 m (60 ft). A person wearing jeans at this distance would not sustain serious injury. However, even at this distance a BB still might penetrate bare skin, and even if not, could leave a severe and painful bruise.

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Gus T replied to Titanus | 3 years ago
8 likes

I do hope you are trolling because your views are uneducated beyond belief.

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ErnieC replied to Gus T | 3 years ago
0 likes

His "name" is a clear indication that he is an under-bridge living person. 

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bertisfantastic replied to Titanus | 3 years ago
2 likes

its quite possible tha he fell off and causing a significant injury.

the RSCH is the major trauma centre for this area and also where the neurosurgical services are. if he had minor injuries he would have been pootled up to the conquest 3 miles up the road not the MTC at the other end of the county

 

doi - have worked in both

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Tom_77 replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
4 likes

eburtthebike wrote:

Well done to the police for what appears to be fast decisive action, but I'm not sure why such an apparently dangerous individual is out on bail.

People are innocent until proven guilty, imprisoning innocent people is wrong (and expensive). Generally bail should be granted unless there are grounds for believing that the defendant will do a runner, commit further offences while on bail or interfere with witnesses.

I'd recommend reading The Secret Barrister if you're interested in how the law works.

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brooksby replied to Tom_77 | 3 years ago
1 like

Tom_77 wrote:

eburtthebike wrote:

Well done to the police for what appears to be fast decisive action, but I'm not sure why such an apparently dangerous individual is out on bail.

People are innocent until proven guilty, imprisoning innocent people is wrong (and expensive). Generally bail should be granted unless there are grounds for believing that the defendant will do a runner, commit further offences while on bail or interfere with witnesses.

I'd recommend reading The Secret Barrister if you're interested in how the law works.

...or they're a well-connected ex politician.

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Rick_Rude replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
1 like

Or maybe they did it because they're a POS? People don't need political leanings to do bad things. I doubt they are even reading a paper or news website. People do bad things to other people, it's been going on for a while now.

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eburtthebike replied to Rick_Rude | 3 years ago
0 likes

Rick_Rude wrote:

Or maybe they did it because they're a POS? People don't need political leanings to do bad things. I doubt they are even reading a paper or news website. People do bad things to other people, it's been going on for a while now.

Eminently possible, but the daily drip feed of anti-cyclist rhetoric must have an effect.  As I've already said, we need some way of preventing these lies and smears so beloved of middle aged, podgy white men who aren't allowed to attack and insult women or coloured people any more.

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srchar replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
4 likes

eburtthebike wrote:

hate speech from podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men

Or, you could have just written "ignorant people", and not brought weight, age, race and sex into it at all, most of which I think actually fit the definition of hate speech. Ignorant people can be found in many different bodies.

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eburtthebike replied to srchar | 3 years ago
1 like

srchar wrote:

eburtthebike wrote:

hate speech from podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men

Or, you could have just written "ignorant people", and not brought weight, age, race and sex into it at all, most of which I think actually fit the definition of hate speech. Ignorant people can be found in many different bodies.

Fair point, but the cycle-haters appear to be predominantly podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men.

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hawkinspeter replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
4 likes

eburtthebike wrote:

Fair point, but the cycle-haters appear to be predominantly podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men.

Like Katie Hopkins?

I think the bias towards middle aged white men is a general media bias in this country.

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eburtthebike replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

eburtthebike wrote:

Fair point, but the cycle-haters appear to be predominantly podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men.

Like Katie Hopkins?

I think the bias towards middle aged white men is a general media bias in this country.

Has the delightful KH blabbed anything stupendously stupid about cyclists recently?  All the recent anti-cycling cretins have been ignorant middle aged men, and mostly podgy.

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hawkinspeter replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
0 likes

I try not to pay them any mind, but just thought I'd throw in a counter-example (though she's not recent enough?).

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srchar replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
4 likes

eburtthebike wrote:

Fair point, but the cycle-haters appear to be predominantly podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men.

You say it's a fair point but you double down anyway. The anti-cycling lobby uses almost exactly the same sort of drivel when describing "most cyclists", by the way.

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brooksby replied to eburtthebike | 3 years ago
3 likes

eburtthebike wrote:

... but the cycle-haters appear to be predominantly podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am a predominantly podgy, middle aged white man (thought not ignorant).  And I am not a cycle-hater.  3  4

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Sriracha replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
0 likes
brooksby wrote:

eburtthebike wrote:

... but the cycle-haters appear to be predominantly podgy, ignorant, middle aged white men.

In the interests of full disclosure...

An image that brings queasiness to the stomach and disquiet to the mind. Please, wear a longer shirt - no such 'disclosure'!

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