Woolwich Crown Court jailed Mark Okotie for three years and six months for running over a cyclist while delivering blood.

Tuesday's term is the sentence on that conviction. The Independent reported Recorder Neil Haythorne called the van a highly dangerous weapon and did not disqualify Okotie from driving. The BBC reported the judge did not ban him and noted he had kept driving since the incident.

The BBC and The Independent reported that Mark Okotie, 44, was jailed for three years and six months at Woolwich Crown Court after a jury found him guilty, earlier this month, of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The Independent reported the sentence was imposed on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. The BBC reported the jailing in a story it published Tuesday and did not print the word Tuesday next to the sentence. Both reported he knocked a cyclist off a bike on New Cross Road in Lewisham during the evening rush hour on March 20, 2024. Both reported he was delivering blood to a hospital. The Independent said blood products, to a south London hospital, and that Okotie is of Naylor Road in Southwark. The BBC said he is from Southwark and did not print the street. Both reported the court heard he moved the van into the left lane "seemingly without looking" and came close to the cyclist, and that at the next lights the cyclist spat toward the van and the spit went through the open driver's window.

Both reported that dashcam footage from inside the van, shown to the court, captured Okotie turning the steering wheel sharply and sending the cyclist under two wheels. Both reported the victim needed "numerous screws and plates" in his pelvis and femur after several fractures. The BBC reported that in a statement released by the Metropolitan Police he said he had been an active person and that the injuries stopped him from jogging and other physical activities. The Independent reported the same statement and quoted him: "When I hear a van or a large vehicle coming up behind me when I'm cycling it can make me panic." The BBC reported Recorder Neil Haythorne told Okotie, "In a moment of extreme road rage, which appears entirely out of character from what I have heard about you, you caused serious injury to a cyclist." The Independent reported that sentence and a second one: "You used the van as a highly dangerous weapon." The BBC reported the judge did not ban him from driving, noting he had continued to drive since the incident. The Independent reported he was not disqualified, and that the judge noted he had been driving for the last two and a half years since the incident.

Both reported that defence barrister Mandisa Knights said Okotie, a father of eight with a one-year-old grandchild, mentored young people to keep them away from violence he had been exposed to when he was younger. The BBC reported she said "a momentary relapse in retaliation" had led to "grave consequences," and that he would have to face the boys he had mentored and admit what he had done. The Independent reported she said, "Unfortunately on this occasion, (he) departed so drastically from the man that he is," and, "This is a man who stands not only at the centre of his family but the centre of his community." It reported she called it "A momentary relapse in retaliation" that "has led him to these grave consequences," and that she told the court, "Mr Okotie has to re-enter his community, the boys that he has mentored and has shown that there is a different path, and look them in the eye and say 'I have done this'." Both reported Detective Inspector Steven Andrews, of the Metropolitan Police, said Okotie had been carrying blood destined for hospital patients in need, and that instead of continuing a journey intended to support potentially life-saving treatment, he chose to place someone else's life at risk. The Independent printed that phrase as "potentially lifesaving" in Andrews's sentence. The BBC hyphenated it as "potentially life-saving." The Independent also reported Andrews said, "I hope this sentence provides a measure of justice for the victim and demonstrates that deliberate acts of violence on London roads will be robustly investigated and prosecuted." The BBC story did not print that sentence.

The jury's verdict earlier this month is the finding on causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Tuesday's term, in The Independent's account, is the sentence. The decision not to ban him from driving is part of what the judge imposed. The cyclist is not named in either story. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.