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news
Peter McCombie head and shoulders shot via Metropolitan Police.PNGCyclist who killed London pedestrian jailed for two years
A cyclist who rode through a red light in east London and crashed into a pedestrian, causing fatal injuries, has been jailed for two years.
Peter McCombie, who had been on his way home from work as an administrator at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, died from his injuries a week after the crash on Bow Road 3 July last year. He was aged 72.
The cyclist, Ermir Loka, aged 23, fled the scene of the crash in Bow but handed himself into police, who had made extensive appeals including releasing CCTV images, more than three weeks later on 28 July.
The Albanian national, who had entered the UK illegally, said he did not stop after the crash because he was worried about his immigration status coming to light.
He pleaded not guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court to manslaughter and causing bodily harm through wanton and furious driving, being acquitted on the first charge but convicted on the second one.
CCTV footage shown at the trial revealed that he would have had 8 seconds to see the red traffic light and stop there, but he carried on riding through it, colliding with Mr McCombie.
At his trial in March, Loka, who had been getting by on around three hours’ sleep a night as he worked two jobs, denied that he had ridden through the red light on purpose, and said he had been unable to brake ahead of the crash.
In a statement released after Loka was sentenced, Mr McCombie’s family said: “Peter’s loss has been immeasurable and has left a gap in our lives that we will never be able to fill.
“He was a man who loved his family, who had time for his circle of valued friends, and worked hard for his colleagues. He was a complete gentleman and everyone that knew him has been united in grief at the manner in which he was taken from us.
“The shock of losing him so abruptly, so suddenly, so unnecessarily, is something that will haunt us for a very long time to come. Peter still had so much left to do and enjoy with us and we have been robbed of that by the actions of this selfish man, who cycled into him and then immediately got up and fled.
“He left Peter laying in a busy road, seriously injured, and thought only of himself at that time. That kind of cowardice is beyond contempt,” they continued. “The anger we feel towards him is beyond words. We cannot even bear to say his name.
“He denied his actions and put us through the trauma of a trial, where we saw exactly what happened and lived our grief again and again. His actions are unforgiveable. We are glad that the jury saw through his lies and that he has been convicted.”
Detective Sergeant Eddie Coleman of the Metropolitan Police Service said: “Peter McCombie was a fit and active man who had had continued to work well past his retirement age. He was much loved by his family and friends and well-liked by his colleagues.
“My sympathies remain with Peter’s family, who have been through so much and supported us so steadfastly throughout our investigation and this trial. I would like to thank them for their courage and bravery and hope they know we have done the best we could for them, and for Peter.
“It can only be said that Loka’s actions were reckless and dangerous and entirely avoidable. If Loka had only just slowed and stopped at the red traffic light, we would not be here today,” he added.
Loka was jailed for two years on Monday, the maximum sentence for the offence of which he was convicted, with the time he will spend in prison taking into account the period he has already spent on remand.
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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68 comments
So let's keep politics out of this, it is utterly irrelevant, it doesn't matter if he was Albanian, English, living here legally or illegally, let's just look at it from the perspective of what it is.
A human life has been lost.
Someone's Son, Brother, father or uncle.
If it was someone you loved who had died, would you be happy with a two year sentence?
We all ride bikes, we all have a duty of care for ourselves and others, we are not above the law, and human life is worth more than the length of time it takes to complete your A levels.
If it was someone you loved who had died, would you be happy with a two year sentence?
Setting aside any criticism of the suspect '1-poster', many of us would say that 2 years is a lot better than the suspended sentences handed out to the killers of cyclists. Joke sentences are not confined to the UK, or the killing of cyclists: I strongly recommend the 5 parts of the OJ Simpson documentary on Storyville, BBC iPlayer. It's about 8 hours, but worth it!
This shows some of the injustices handed out in relation to offences against African Americans (is that the acceptable term these days?)- a female Korean shopkeeper fatally shot a young black girl in the back of the head for 'not very much' and received a suspended sentence with some community service- much as we hear about in the UK for killing cyclists, a segment of the population where blind hatred and threats and actual instances of bodily harm are accepted. Additional cycling interest: the District Attorney overseeing the OJ prosecution looks like Chris Froome- the DA is seen often in Episode 4 (in the interests of balance I should say that there may be a defence lawyer somewhere who looks like Chris Froome as well)
I think you are replying to the wrong person.
I was answering someone's query.
I don't have a disagreement with the sentence, there are however many instances where killer drivers receive lighter sentences. However the big difference here (and the Charlie Alyson case) is that the rider was facing Manslaughter charges.
I know they haven't been convicted of manslaughter but the stress and worry as well as defence preparation involved is significant, there is definetly an issue with the discrepancies in the legal system that intorduces very diffferent charges (and potentially sentences) based on the choice of transport chosen by the defendant. Especially f i mean the user of the less dangerous/harmful mode of transport faces the more serious charges
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-51221150
Driver who caused East Kilbride girl's death gets community sentence.
I think the sentence is fair, but since you emerged from under your bridge and asked:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-57173830 - suspended sentence
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-51221150 - community service
https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/18703669.woman-sentenced-causing-dea... - not a hit-and-run, community service
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-lorry-driver-who-killed-1... - 1 year despite driver previously having served 'life' for murdering his wife and despite many aggravating factors
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/banned-driver-ran... - Already banned driver ran over blind man on a pedestrian crossing, victim survived, 10 months
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/1817335/dundee-woman-w... - boy thankfully not killed, 9 pts
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/sandwell/2020/01/17/drive...
All but one of those articles refer to case where there is evidence that the accused drove through red light. The fact that Ermir Loka 'fled the scene' is irrelevant, as there is no legal requirement for a cyclist involved in a collision to remain on the scene or report the collision.
The fact that some of those red lights may not have been what you term 'established' is completely irrelevant - red does not mean "stop if it has been red for some period of time, as defined by TT Danger", every single red light follows an 'established' amber light.
Also, leaving the scene is an extra charge in addition to the "Causing Death by....". So that should not be relevant in the cases whether it happened or not.
Drivelling hypocrisy, your thoughts are not with the victim's family but with what way you can leverage a tragic event to assuage your pathetic desire to irritate and draw attention to yourself. You really do need to get a life – maybe you should take up cycling?
Where shall I start with that? I was using an ebike because that's my car replacement, using it to deliver provisions to parents and parents in law. I have already ridden 5400 kilometres in 2021 unpowered on my CF Ultegra Di2. So you can fuck off on that one.
If by "screaming gendered profanities about women at random passers by" you mean I called someone who came within 10cms of killing me a cunt, yes I did. And I couldn't care less about your prissy comments about that, so you can fuck off on that one too.
You said you were leaving this site. You are almost universally despised and derided by the users of this site, so why don't you just go?
That falls pretty much within the clinical definition of a psychopath/sociopath (like your hero Trump, "the greatest President of all time" as you called him): the reason everyone disagrees with me is because I'm the only person who's right and they're all wrong. The sheer narcissism is breathtaking.
Thanks for the offer of a ride but even though cycling is one of the greatest pleasures in my life if it were a choice between riding with you or not riding I'd take the latter every time.
Contrary to his own opinion
Nigel is not the Messiah..... he's a very naughty boy!
More akin to the spokesperson for the People's Front of Judea.
If you bothered to read anything, you would know that Rendel has a variety of bikes including normal ones.
But then you like to misrepresent people just to shit stir eg your reference to 'random people'.
Your one post there sums up your whole agenda here.
I'm surprised that he received the maximum possible sentence.
I don't have a problem with him getting a prison sentence as he didn't use appropriate care on the road, but it doesn't appear that he was drunk or on drugs. Is it due to fleeing the scene (which I'd agree should increase the penalty) or is it more that he's an immigrant?
A sad story all round.
However I can't help but get the impression (maybe incorrrectly) that cyclists causing death seem to be held to different standards to drivers who do similar. Either that or the persons nationality and immigration status has ensured he gets a deserved jail sentence.
The simple fact is that cyclists ARE judged to a stricter standard with harsher penalties. If there was a 'dangerous/careless cycling' offence similar to driving, instead of these offences which fall under the general heading of crimes against the person (covers everything from assault to murder), then the punishment would be much less
Obviously I'm perfectly OK with Loka being punished here. But compare and contrast with all the suspected sentences given to speeding drivers who kill pedestrians going through red lights (e.g. here or here). Why does killing a pedestrian whilst on a bike attract a far higher penalty than killing a pedestrian whilst driving a car?
I just know this will be all over the news, and that deeply misguided Mr Briggs will be rolled out for interviews.
Your "here or here" are the same heres.
Hear, hear!
Bit confused how these two comments fit together. I thought Mr Briggs was basically campaigning for just that - specific cycling offences which mirror the driving ones?
He is, but I don't think he has thought this through properly. I feel sorry for his loss, I really do, but he can get things very very very wrong.
Ok, I (mis)took your first comment to be advocating for the introduction of similar careless / dangerous offences for cycling, hence my confusion.
Indeed we neever a review of road laws to bring cyclist to parity with drivers
1) introduction of death by careless/dangerous cycling
2) cyclists to be tried by juries containing predominantly made of of cyclists
3) removal of the misuse of manslaughter for cycling traffic offences (unless it is also to be used for drivers)
I agree with one / three and was one of the few points I agreed with Kim Briggs husband over. The Manslaughter charge is used as there is nothing else that can be used against cyclists who cause the death of another. I suspect part of that oversight in the 1960 laws is the very few deaths attributed to cyclists, especially ones where the direct cause was poor cycling.
But how are we supposed to do 2. No one would be able to see the jury are there and the trial will be dismissed.
It's an interesting issue though that drivers are uniquely tried by a jury predominantly made up of drivers. Jurors who empathise more with the accused than the victim.
Meanwhile a jury of drivers radicalised against cyclists by the media will have the opposite prejudice and expect far higher standards from cyclists than they do of fellow drivers.
This would no bring parity, so if introducing death by careless cycling charge and allowing the jury to be predomantly drivers rather than cyclists equality with drivers would not be achieved.
Is it possible to enter the UK illegally? What exactly makes a particular way of getting into the UK illegal?
Smuggled in. Posing as someone else. Not having a visa or work permit.
I suspect you already know, but want to play around and suggest we should have open borders.
I ask a genuine question and you assume I know the answer for some bizarre reason you've made up in your head. Quite bizarre and entirely unhelpful.
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