Cycle rage thug is facing a lengthy jail term after assaulting a 70-year-old man

A MAN who chased a 70-year-old on his bike before assaulting him in a row over right of way on the road has been warned he is facing a lengthy jail term.

Graeme Brankin followed his 70-year-old victim from Dundee cit y centre for around a mile before hitting him so hard that his eye socket and cheekbone were fractured.

The pensioner was cycling when he heard shouting from behind him with Brankin calling him “blind” and “stupid”. The OAP cycled off but later sensed someone behind him.

After another argument Brankin struck the man so hard his glasses and hearing aid fell off and he fell from his bicycle.

A jury at Dundee Sheriff Court heard the man needed an operation to insert three metal plates into his face as a result of the attack.

A three-day trial heard from another victim of an almost identical attack elsewhere in the city, which took place 11 months later.

In that second cycle rage attack, the next victim said he had been hit by Brankin in a park and woke up later in Ninewells Hospital.

Brankin, 49, a prisoner at HMP Perth, had denied charges of assault to severe injury and assault to injury.

But a jury took less than half an hour to find him unanimously guilty of both attacks.

Sentence was deferred until January 9 for reports.