- 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
Biscovey Football Club, Cornwall (Google Maps)Driver who left teenage cyclist "for dead" in horrific hit-and-run is given six-month suspended sentence due to 'state of the prison service'
"I can't get over how someone could hit a cyclist and leave them at the side of the road not knowing if they are dead or alive. I feel physically changed, not just by the injuries but the failing to stop and being left for dead."
Those were the words of a teenage cyclist seriously injured in a hit-and-run collision in Cornwall, the driver having now received a six-month suspended sentence and two-year driving ban, the judge reportedly telling the court he had to consider the victim's age and the state of the prison service in sentencing.
A reporter from the Falmouth Packet was at Truro Crown Court to hear how Robert Morse, 56, hit the cyclist on a rural road and left the 17-year-old victim "for dead", fleeing the scene and attempting to hide the Range Rover he was driving, while the injured rider was airlifted to hospital with double breaks to his leg and a 20cm wound to his head.
Morse, who had convictions for 128 previous offences including failure to stop and driving whilst disqualified, only possessed a provisional driving licence at the time of the collision as he had previously been disqualified for other driving offences.
The court heard how the teenage cyclist, who was 17 at the time, was wearing reflective clothing and had lights on his bike. He was riding on a quiet route past Biscovey Football Club and had stopped to take a drink when Morse hit him from behind, immediately fleeing the scene and not offering any help.
The rider had expected the route to be quiet as it was closed due to a sinkhole opening up, however he knew he could get past on his bike safely without issue. While the victim was "left for dead", bleeding and "not knowing if I was going to die", Morse hid his car at a nearby industrial estate and later lied to the police and said he had sold the vehicle.
Two runners heard the screams of the injured cyclist and he was airlifted to Derriford Hospital where his broken tibia and fibula were operated on.
Police were able to match plastic trim from a fog light, found at the scene, to Morse's Range Rover. He was also seen on CCTV driving the vehicle, prompting officers to park near his home where he was seen walking past and "hiding his face".
The driver repeatedly lied to officers, telling them he had sold the vehicle and that a key for the vehicle they found was just "a spare key". He later admitted hitting a cyclist but said the collision was caused by the victim coming out "straight in front of him". He also claimed dash cam footage would confirm this account, although police officers did not find a camera.
Judge Simon Carr accused the driver of "the most breathtaking cowardice" and suggested he "would rather someone had died than be held responsible for your actions".
"You would have known immediately what you had done and displayed the most breathtaking cowardice to leave someone," the judge told the court. "You would rather someone had died than be held responsible for your actions – because if someone hadn't come along and been able to help him, that could have been the outcome.
"Your thoughts are only for yourself and for nobody else. You have minimised your involvement and sought to blame others. This is a young man whose life has been changed forever. However he recovers from the physical and psychological impact, there will never be a complete recovery. You did that and you left him in the road like that."
When it came to handing down the sentence, however, the judge banned Morse from driving for two years and ordered a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. The driver must also pay £1,636 in costs and complete 300 hours of unpaid work. It was also reported that the process of seeking compensation for the victim through insurance companies is underway.
The Falmouth Packet reports the judge told the court the current state of the prison service, namely overcrowding, and Morse's age (56) needed to be considered when sentencing him for causing serious injury by careless driving.
A victim impact statement was heard, the teenager saying he "can't get over how someone could hit a cyclist and leave them at the side of the road not knowing if they are dead or alive".
"I feel I've lost my independence and my confidence," the statement began. "I've never experienced anxiety before but now feel anxious most of the time. I can't get over how someone could hit a cyclist and leave them at the side of the road not knowing if they are dead or alive.
"I feel physically changed, not just by the injuries but the failing to stop and being left for dead. Left in the road, bleeding, not knowing if I was going to die."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- stonojnr 3 sec ago
still time to celebrate its 40th birthday.
- ErnieC 16 min 17 sec ago
"I would say it's mainly because there is a substantive difference between having oppressive human rights violations within a country's own borders...
- chrisonabike 29 min 58 sec ago
They should get ColdWarSteve in to do 'em.
- chrisonabike 33 min 28 sec ago
Most of this is reasonable advice - and if you have a very regular route the "get together with others" advice is good. For general use you missed...
- cmedred 1 hour 24 min ago
Chose not to? Isn't the appropriate prhase there "refused to comment.''
- KiwiMike 2 hours 58 min ago
Imagine getting something for nothing, then complaining about it.
- Rendel Harris 3 hours 16 min ago
The system is that the ban given is served from the moment the driver is disqualified, i.e. at sentencing, but it must be extended from whatever...
- Bungle_52 3 hours 33 min ago
Not as far as I know. The only points and fine I have been told about so far was a pass on a blind bend. I was out in the middle of the lane as I...
- Rendel Harris 4 hours 5 min ago
Something similar occurred to me, although on reflection I thought that probably, assuming the shed is in the back garden, once the thieves get to...
- mdavidford 4 hours 30 min ago
But then you'd have to ride it naked from the waist down...
Add new comment
49 comments
Meanwhile, there's plenty of prison space for climate protestors: https://www.bristol247.com/climate/news-climate/gp-jailed-for-peaceful-climate-protest-regrets-nothing/
Whilst I in no way condone the disparity in sentencing, you have to put it in the context of this defendant being contrite in court vs the Doctor saying "I regret nothing". Factors that both judges have to consider.
Additionally you need to factor in that the Doctor is willing - nay wants to go to jail for the additional publicity it brings.
Personally I'd the bury driver in the kind of well hole serial killers use to store their would-be victims but I can see in this case if I quint and take into account car normalisation how that didnt happen.
2 sides of the same coin.
you have to put it in the context of this defendant
beingpretending to be contrite in courtYou would expect him to be experiencing contrition-fatigue after 128 convictions, but he manfully battled on despite it being obvious to everybody except a judge that a hit-and-runner who lied over multiple aspects of this one case is lying about the contrition too. The persistence must be because it always works!
To my mind, it makes more sense to use the suspended sentences for non-violent crime, especially now that the government has come around to the same conclusion about new oil and gas licences. There's a difference between someone taking a moral stance and saying "I regret nothing" and a criminal that repeatedly makes the same kinds of mistakes (128 previous offences).
It's clear that the public interest isn't served by allowing killers to walk free.
Its may be clear to you but you arent the public interest. I would suggest the following statement is more accurate.
"Its unclear whether the public cares at all whether killer drivers walk free."
Nearly - they certainly aren't in favour of "killer drivers" - but drivers who accidentally, innocently kill people while driving deserve our understanding.
I'm still not 100% sure what you have to do to get into the first category rather than the second, but you'd have to be a really obvious wrong 'un. Perhaps some combination of having previous convictions for speeding but doing over 71mph on a shared use path, hit and run while high on multiple drugs and then making a determined effort to pervert the course of justice (bit unlucky, her), being "visibly drunk" and speeding (again - sentence seems a bit harsh).
But just running over and killing someone on a straight road when others say they could be seen? Police and CPS not interested - clearly not in the public interest.
I'm currently reading Douglas Hurd's biography of Robert Peel:
So protestors get the book thrown at them in order to deter others and prevent anarchy. Individual citizens harmed by individual criminals are a lower priority for the limited jail space available.
Yup. Criminals tend not to want to change the status quo, merely be free to carry on their business with fewer restrictions!
Those with a different idea of how things should be organised who are prepared link up with others and/or take direct action? That's a serious threat to "order" (and the State's monopoly of control / decision-making - and ultimately the position of those in power, if the general populace becomes restive because they feel that nothing is being done about the disruption).
That's a plausible theory, but I suspect that the politics of oil consumption is a much bigger influence on the sentences given to protestors.
The actions of the perpetrator are utterly horrifying, contemptible & unacceptable both under the law and morally.
The actions & decisions by the judge are disproportiately lenient, inadequately justified & verging on what some may consider to be incompetence and unfairness. To affect change: the MP for St Austell and Newquay is Noah Law. The constituents of St Austell are urged to write to Noah Law (MP) to highlight the injustice of the sentencing, demanding action & involvement to address inadequate attention to road safety sentencing of persistent driver offenders. Here in London, we regularly have Labour MP's addressing (in the media, public meetings/rallies , parlimentary statements etc) for real & perceived injustices fitting the political agenda of the day. Time to put REAL car crime (using cars in commiting unlawful acts) on the political agenda.
Noah Law !! You couldnt make it up. I was in taxi once upon a time, and the taxi driver was telling me about legal difficulties he was having, and his "persecutor" used the service of a legal firm called "Wright Hassall " , which as it happens we drove past on our journey
Due to the details of the offences committed by the criminal in this case, along with it's prior history of offending, it is clear there is no conscience whatsoever within it.
The only real punishment would be to permanently remove it's taste buds and libido.
Which would hopefully act as a deterrent to others who are in the same bracket of society.
Record number of protesters in British prisons over Christmas
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/01/02/cucz-j02.html
Is that because their ankle-tags don't fit? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1el32g75p8o
That's just fucking outrageous.
I wonder why the CPS isn't appealing the joke sentence? I ask this so that somebody with legal knowledge can tell us whether that's possible in such a case
Twas ever thus: The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll perfectly sums up the overwhelming arrogance of the rich and how they protect each other. Six months for murder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lonesome_Death_of_Hattie_Carroll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmbwU3J-2kk
Unbelievable. But the judge does deserve some sort of award for managing to make himself a giant gasbag of a hypocrite: You "would rather someone had died than be held responsible for your actions" you coward, but I'm not going to hold you responsible because the prisons are full.
That should, at the very least, get Judge Simon Carr disqualified from any future cases involving cyclists or pedestrians hit by motor vehicles. If Carr can't bring himself to send to prison a man with Morse's record, the only explanation is a serious bias against vulnerable road users.
You have to wonder if the judge belongs to the same lodge as the driver.
"involving cyclists or pedestrians hit by drivers"
http://rc-rg.com
Like this disgusting perpetrator, I'm 56 years old. It wouldn't even occur to me that this fact would get me a reduced sentence if I committed a crime, why on earth should it?
That's what you'd employ legal professionals for?
(But agree with the sentiment. And this one does seem to be such a lifelong and clear wrong 'un that the legal game seems to be both trivialising and unfair.)
I'm 73. I'm robbing the nearest bank tomorrow, setting fire to a few cars, and beating up a local tory, safe in the knowledge that I won't be going to prison.
I don't think you're taking this seriously. The story is about some damage to a bicycle (and its rider - a teenager, at that).
But you're talking about damaging cars, and that's something you just shouldn't joke about, much less expect leniency. At your age, you should know better and that will be taken into account at your
condemningsentencing.I mean - if you let their tyres down that's compromising their safety - attempted murder.
What difference? Oh ... planning and "could reasonably foresee harm" in the sabotage case. The law and "normal people" will see that as totally unlike those drivers who were just driving - a totally normal activity BTW, in fact "essential", a "right" even! - when they didn't notice someone and smashed into them. And didn't notice that they had hit anyone and so failed to stop at the scene (well why would you if you didn't think you'd hit someone?). Before e.g.
trying to hide the evidencegiving their car a very good clean / respray, trying to sell it, forgetting that they had ever been in it etc. Those are are all normal things people do all the time, and we know from the existence of NIPs that the law rightly doesn't expect people to remember something while they were driving because most do this for significant periods of time most days.This sentence is flipping joke surely?
A suspended sentence? For someone with form driving without a valid licence?
Didn't they jail a I guy for 2 years for watching TV they other day?[1]
Well thank god the judge used some stern language eh? That'll teach him.
1. Selling access to football. I mean it's not like you can even legally watch all Saturday football matches even if you're willing to pay.
Has road.cc ask Matthew Briggs and Ian Duncan Smith to comment?
Is this the sentencing they wants cyclists to get?
.....left the 17-year-old victim "for dead"
128 previous offences including failure to stop and driving whilst disqualified...
The driver repeatedly lied to officers....
Morse hid his car at a nearby industrial estate....
....said the collision was caused by the victim coming out "straight in front of him"
You've got to be kidding. I don't care how overcrowded the jails are, this person should not be at liberty for a very long time.
He is clearly a hopeless recidivist with no morals and doesn't have the slightest regard for other people. He hit a well lit, stationary cyclist, left them to die, lied to the police, deliberately concealed evidence, blamed the victim and has a history of flouting the law and his driving ban: it is hard to imagine a more serious litany of crime. A cyclist with a similar record wouldn't see the light of day ever again.
We should be afraid. If behaviour like this doesn't bring a lengthy prison sentence, then we are all less safe on the road.
As if to reinforce the message that cyclists are the problem, Panorama tonight at 8pm (BBC 1) is about ebikes: it's called "E-bikes: the battle for our streets". Funny, the BBC have never been negative about electric cars.
The driver got away with a very light sentence. A much longer driving ban, or even a permanent ban, would be suitable. I hope the victim gets very alrge compensation that ensures no insurance copmany will ever want to go near the driver again.
I suspect that won't be much of a deterrant for this scumbag.
Pages