E-biker, 50, avoids jail after killing great-grandfather, 91, by crashing into him as he put the bins out in first-ever manslaughter case for biking on the pavement

A man who killed a 91-year-old great-grandfather after crashing into him on an electric bike as he put the bins out has avoided jail. 

Clifford Cage of Rochester, Kent, was handed a two-year suspended sentence for the manslaughter of Jim Blackwood at Maidstone Crown Court on Wednesday. 

Cage and Mr Blackwood’s daughter, Christine White, hugged in the courtroom after the sentencing, which she described as a ‘historic judgement’. 

The veteran had been taking his bins out in City Way in the town when he was struck down on July 6, 2023. 

He was later taken to hospital, but his health deteriorated, and he died three months later on October 13. 

Despite his age and frailty, it was accepted that he would not have died in the way or manner he did had he not been hit by Cage. 

And as such, the 50-year-old was charged with manslaughter, in a case that has been described by the prosecution as a ‘legal first’. 

Sentencing Cage, Judge Julian Smith said the veteran ‘suffered significantly’ in the final months of his life.

He added: ‘That is no measure of a man’s life but is of Mr Cage’s culpability. No doubt he should not have been riding on that path in that way.’

Following the sentencing, Ms White said the judgment should affect every cyclist in the country as she hopes it will have an impact on wider society. 

‘No longer can cyclists decide that they can leave the road and ride on our pavements, endangering pedestrians with impunity, and the message needs to get out there and into the public consciousness,’ she said.

‘Everyone has to realise that it is illegal to go off-road, and that illegality will be punished.’

The 68-year-old, who has been caring for her mother full-time since her father’s passing, has urged the Government to reconsider the minimum age requirement for e-bikes. 

Ms White believes riders without a driver’s licence should receive training or a licence to drive the bikes, while also stressing the minimum age should be raised from 14 to 16. 

She also urged ‘unsafe cyclists’ to think about their journeys, adding: ‘Please make our streets safer for everyone, and do not cycle or ride e-scooters on pavements or in pedestrian areas.’

Ms White said: ‘With the introduction of electric bikes, walking on our pavements and through our public spaces has become dangerous to the point of becoming a lottery.

‘Deciding to go for a walk or to go shopping should not make one a potential victim of a vehicle which cannot be heard as it approaches.’

She added: ‘When Mr Cage decided for whatever reason, to ride his bicycle on the pavement, he made a decision to break the law – he must now live with and deal with the consequences of that decision for the rest of his life, as sadly, must we’.

In July, Cage told police in a voluntary interview that he began riding along the pavement on City Way, Rochester, following two near misses with cars when he was cycling on the road, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The 50-year-old said he was not ‘peddling mad’ on the day of the crash and estimated he had been riding at around 12mph.

He told officers that he had not seen Mr Blackwood, describing him as having stepped out from behind a bush and leaving him with no time to stop. 

The tree was overgrown, and Mr Blackwood’s family had previously complained about it, the court was told.

Following the incident, Cage stayed at the scene and called 999, and ‘express[ed] genuine remorse’, the court heard.

He also told Ms White that he sweeps the pavement at City Way every Wednesday and offered to trim the bush back himself.

The 50-year-old initially denied manslaughter but later pleaded guilty in October last year.

Mr Blackwood’s wife of 72 years, Hanni, told the court in a statement that she misses him constantly, adding: ‘There’s not a day I don’t think of him’.

She said as a former Army man, her husband had served in Malaya and Northern Ireland ‘but was killed outside his front door’.

His daughter, Ms White told of the ‘huge emotional toll’ the incident has had on her and said she generally ‘feels angry all the time’.

‘It’s painful to see mum suffering so much, she really doesn’t want to be here without her partner of 72 years,’ she said. ‘I miss dad terribly, I was a real daddy’s girl.’

Danny Moore KC, defending, said the grandfather stayed at the scene and ‘did what he could to help’ and that ‘he’s a decent human being’.

‘He knows a moment of careless driving has resulted in tragedy,’ he said. ‘The knowledge his actions have caused the death of another human being is something he will carry with him for the rest of his life.’

The judge also ordered Cage to complete 15 days of rehabilitative activity and 180 hours of unpaid work.

The CPS believes the case is the first of its kind for a conviction of manslaughter connected to cycling on the pavement.

District crown prosecutor Matt Beard said Cage’s e-bike was not powerful enough for laws for driving offences, such as death by dangerous driving, to apply in this case.

There is currently a gap between a Victorian law from 1861 of wanton and furious driving, for which judges can hand a jail term for up to years, and manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of life behind bars.  

‘Our view was that yes, in this case, it really did meet that threshold to pass the public interest test to make sure that we do charge manslaughter,’ he said.

Mr Beard said in this case Cage knew the area, and had near misses and that by choosing to cycle on the pavement, he ‘took himself away from one danger and effectively move that danger to somebody else’.

‘So the takeaway from that is that cyclists, whether you’re on an e-bike or on a normal push bike, to be aware of the risks of others. This is a very tragic incident,’ he said.

‘Some people might just say … it’s just an ‘unfortunate accident’. It’s not, it’s an illegal act that had been carried out. It’s not just an unfortunate accident, (it was) wholly unavoidable by going on the road.’