I filmed a driver threatening to kill me but CPS dismissed the case, says cyclist barrister

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12 April 2012

A BARRISTER who filmed a car driver threatening to kill him as he cycled to work has complained after prosecutors refused to take-up his case.

Martin Porter QC recorded the confrontation with the motorist — and the numberplate — on a helmet camera and submitted the evidence to police.

But he was infuriated after a Met officer told him the case was being dropped because the Crown Prosecution Service believed it was unlikely to secure a conviction.

Mr Porter, 48, said that it was wrong that officers had even failed to question the driver — as this could have resulted in him admitting his guilt after being told the confrontation had been caught on film.

The incident happened as Mr Porter cycled along the A315 Staines Road in Hounslow on November 4. He races bikes as a hobby and often cycles the 30 miles from his Sunningdale home to his chambers near Temple.

As he approached a central reservation, Mr Porter moved into the centre of the lane to prevent any vehicles squeezing past and risk knocking him off. But this annoyed the driver of a Volkswagen Golf, who sounded his horn and screamed insults from an open window.

Mr Porter recalled: "As I'm going through there he comes up from behind and starts honking. Initially I couldn't really make out what he was saying to me, although he wasn't very polite.

"I was saying to him it wasn't a good place to overtake. He zoomed off, I overtook him at a traffic queue, then he came past me again, probably about four miles down the road. That was when he drew up alongside me, wound his window down and said he was going to kill me."

After catching up with the car at traffic lights, he got the driver to confirm the threat to kill and was told by him: "You're a f***ing little ****, mate." The car then sped off.

Mr Porter, who writes a blog called The Cycling Lawyer, began recording part of his journey on camera after experiencing repeated "aggravation" from drivers on the suburban section of his trip.

He said it was "very difficult" to get police to take an interest in the case, despite submitting the video evidence, which he has also posted on YouTube. "I don't think people who don't cycle appreciate how much gratuitous aggression there is out there directed at cyclists."

He has written to the head of the Crown Prosecution Service in west London to complain at the failure to even consider issuing the motorist with an £80 fixed penalty under the Public Order Act.

Mr Porter said: "He is probably guilty of a more serious offence, including a threat to kill. I would have been content for him to be charged with the lesser offence of threatening behaviour. I can't understand why it's constructive to do nothing."

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