A van driver who deliberately ran over a cyclist during a road-rage clash in New Cross has been jailed for three and a half years.
Mark Okotie, 44, of Naylor Road in Peckham, was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday 27 October 2026 after being found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent.
The court heard that on 20 March 2024, Okotie was driving a work van along New Cross Road when he became involved in an altercation with a cyclist. Footage of the incident shows the van moving across the road into the cyclist’s path before the rider was knocked from his bike and run over.
The cyclist, a man in his 20s, suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis and a fractured femur. He required surgery to insert metal fixings into his pelvis and leg.
At the time of the incident, Okotie had been transporting blood destined for hospital patients.
More than two and a half years passed between the incident on New Cross Road and the sentence handed down at Woolwich Crown Court. Okotie was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent on 19 October 2026, and returned to the same court eight days later to be sentenced.
Grievous bodily harm with intent is one of the most serious assault charges in England and Wales, covering really serious injury caused deliberately. The three-and-a-half-year sentence reflects the deliberate nature of the driving shown in the footage, rather than a momentary lapse behind the wheel.
The case is a reminder of how quickly a dispute on the road can turn into a criminal matter with life-changing consequences. The cyclist’s injuries required major surgery, while the driver now faces a lengthy prison term for what began as an altercation on a busy south London road.
Cyclists and drivers share New Cross Road every day, and the footage at the heart of this case showed a deliberate manoeuvre rather than a collision caused by inattention. The sentence brings to a close a case that began with a confrontation in March 2024 and ended in a prison cell in October 2026.
Woolwich Crown Court deals with serious criminal cases from across south-east London, and the case was heard there from the verdict through to sentencing. The eight days between the guilty verdict on 19 October and the sentence on 27 October gave the court time to consider the appropriate punishment for an offence of this seriousness.
Grievous bodily harm with intent carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, with the starting point for sentencing depending on the harm caused and the culpability of the offender. In this case, the harm was severe: multiple fractures to the pelvis and a fractured femur, followed by surgery to insert metal fixings. The deliberate movement of the van into the cyclist’s path was central to the finding that the harm was caused intentionally.
The journey itself adds a sombre detail to the case. Okotie was transporting blood destined for hospital patients when the altercation on New Cross Road took place. A trip intended to help people in hospital ended with another man suffering serious injuries that needed major surgery.
The long gap between the incident in March 2024 and the sentence in October 2026 also shows how long serious criminal cases can take to work through the courts. The cyclist’s injuries, the investigation, and the trial process all unfolded over more than two years before the final sentence was passed.
Elsewhere in the capital, a man has been charged after a stabbing at Brixton station, while cyclists were seen riding through Oxford Street on the first day of its pedestrian zone despite the new ban.
