A CYCLIST has suffered smashed ribs and internal bleeding after he was mown down by two laughing thugs – just days before they ploughed a car into an NHS worker.

Patrick James, 22, was in the car as it mounted the kerb and rammed into Julian Ford who suffered smashed ribs and internal bleeding.

The horrific video was found on James’ phone as detectives investigated him and pal Phillip Adams, 26, for a separate hit-and-run attack ten days later.

In the second attack NHS worker Katungua Tjitendero was walking to Southmead Hospital in Bristol, when he was hit by a blue Honda Accord.

James and Adams fled the scene, with one shouting racial abuse at Mr Tjitendero who was pinned against a wall by the car.

Footage from James's mobile phone showed Mr Ford being knocked off his bike.Footage from James's mobile phone showed Mr Ford being knocked off his bike. (Image: Avon & Somerset Police/SWNS)

He suffered “devastating” injuries, including a broken nose, a fractured right leg, facial wounds and cuts to both his legs. 

At Bristol Crown Court on Friday (September 27), James and Adams were found guilty of conspiracy to cause intentional grievous bodily harm for the attack on Mr Tjitendero.

James was also found guilty of intentional GBH following the assault on Mr Ford.

Detective Superintendent Mike Buck, of Avon and Somerset Police, branded the attacks “absolutely sickening”.

The state of the car after the attack on Mr Tjitendero.The state of the car after the attack on Mr Tjitendero. (Image: Avon & Somerset Police/SWNS) He said: “It was later in the investigation that we identified this attack on Julian Ford, only ten days beforehand, and realised the significance, that this wasn’t an isolated incident.

“These were two linked attacks.

“Patrick James was filming the attack and you hear him on the video, and the driver, laughing both before and afterwards as they drive off. Absolutely sickening.”

CCTV footage showed Mr Tjitendero heading towards a bus stop at around 4.30pm on July 22, 2020, after finishing a shift at Southmead Hospital.

Det Supt Buck said the blue Honda car appeared “from nowhere” and hit Mr Tjitendero from the back.

The blue Honda Accord at the scene of the crash near Southmead Hospital.The blue Honda Accord at the scene of the crash near Southmead Hospital. (Image: Avon & Somerset Police/SWNS)

He said: “A car attacked him from behind. He had no chance and was left with devastating injuries.”

Pictures taken of the aftermath of the shocking incident showed the car resting against a wall – with a smashed windscreen on the driver’s side.

Mr Tjitendero was rushed to the hospital - where both he and his mother Hivaka work – for emergency treatment.

The court heard that on July 16, James had paid £300 for the blue Honda Accord involved in the collision.

CCTV from petrol stations around the area showed James using the car over the following days.

Adams’ DNA was found inside the car, which he had told officers he had been in at times.

When James’s mobile phone was seized by police, it revealed the footage of Mr Ford being knocked off his bike.

Detective say the hit-and-run happened on July 12, 2020 in Broadlands Drive, Lawrence Weston, Bristol, ten days before the attack on Mr Tjitendero.

James, of Bristol, was convicted of intentionally causing GBH to Mr Ford.

Adams, also of Bristol, failed to appear in court and was tried and found guilty of the separate charges relating to Mr Tjitendero in his absence.

The pair will be sentenced on Monday (September 30).

Two other men, Jordan McCarthy, 22, and Daniel Whereatt, 51, denied a charge of conspiracy to cause GBH to Mr Tjitendero and were acquitted by the jury.