Cyclist fined after punching man on railway path

The incident occurred along part of the Cinder Track route in Whitby

A man was left with facial injuries after being punched by a cyclist as he walked on an old railway path with his young children.

Stewart Wyeth, 46, was fined £100 and handed a 12-month community order at Scarborough Magistrates' Court on Thursday following the incident on 30 March.

The court heard that victim Shaun Moorhouse had been walking along a narrow section of the Cinder Track, between Scarborough to Whitby, with his family when a fight broke out as Wyeth cycled past.

Mr Moorhouse was left with a “sore and bloody nose, cut to his lip and scrapes to his arms from the bushes”, the court heard.

Wyeth had denied the charge of assault by beating last month, but he was found guilty.

The defendant, of no fixed abode, did not have a defence solicitor, but the court was told he had autism and his “responses may not be the same as other people’s”.

Magistrates were also told he had PTSD and was in "constant anxiety that he is going to be attacked”.

Wyeth had been working for the last two months as a cleaner on minimum wage, but had “limited outgoings” due to not owning a mobile phone and only using a bike for transport.

The magistrates deemed that Wyeth was of “low risk of harm to the general public” when sentencing him.

The Cinder Track follows the route of the railway line from Scarborough to Whitby via Robin Hood's Bay, and was converted into a cycle and walking trail after the line closed in the 1960s.

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