An engineer who repeatedly sped and lied to the police has been jailed for six months, despite begging a judge not to send him to prison so...Ooh! *settles in with popcorn*
...he could pay his daughter’s private school fees....
...
... well, I wasn't expecting that!
Matthew Potter, 41, of Langley Place, Billericay, appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to six counts of perverting the course of justice. Between August 7, 2015 and August 29, 2016, he was caught speeding six times in his BMW 318D and a Mitsubishi L200.
The most serious offence took place on July 1 last year when he was clocked driving at 60mph in a 40mph zone.
Each time he was stopped, he gave officers false information and created a fictitious name on formal documents in a bid to get away with it.You'd have thought they might have wised up after the first couple of times, but then, this is Essex Police, after all.
In his first interview, he insisted the vehicles were being driven by people at his work, Network Rail, on test drives./facepalm
But Judge Ian Graham jailed him for six months for his ‘dishonest’ actions. He told him: “Unfortunately for you what you did was dishonest, it was criminal and it was persistent and it was clearly carried out to avoid the consequences of exceeding the speed limit.
“I am afraid these matters must come home to roost and you must face the consequences. These offences were committed during a highly stressful period of your life. But these offences are so serious they can only be met with a custodial sentence.”At last, a judge with some common sense.
6 comments:
Common sense need not apply.
These guys have always managed to bestir themselves when someone tries to put one over on the Holy State. His big mistake was using his own car. If instead of Perverting the Sacred Course of Justice he'd merely stolen some one else's car, led the police on a 20 mile chase before crashing into three cars and writing them off, then jumped out and assaulted three people, stole a six pack from a shop, then set a pit bull on someone, he'd be looking at 40 hours community service and a 'thinking skills' course.
The most serious was 60 in a 40. Hang him.
Yet people get away with assaults and robbery on a daily basis.
His crime though was not speeding but depriving the state of revenue. This is what stands for justice nowadays.
Interesting. You don't go to prison for getting pissed and beating someone up down the pub, yet this guy who apparently harmed nobody, is sent down.
I have a real issue with people being punished severely when they've done no harm. Lying to the police might make him a bit of a dick, but it doesn't deserve prison
Real crimes with real victims deserve prison, but that doesn't happen if the victim isn't the treasury
And. I have an L200 and it's not really a very good car for speeding in :-)
@ Lord T. His crime was perverting the course of justice. If he'd copped to the speeding offences he'd have got a few penalty points and a fine or two (and had to stop speeding or face a ban but that's a different issue). The courts, quite rightly in my opinion, take a dim view of people who pervert the course of justice.
Did he give a false name to the same officers each time Julia? Or are there quite a few different police officers in Essex?
Jaded.
"These guys have always managed to bestir themselves when someone tries to put one over on the Holy State. His big mistake was using his own car."
Good point!
"Real crimes with real victims deserve prison, but that doesn't happen if the victim isn't the treasury"
Also a good point.
"Did he give a false name to the same officers each time Julia? Or are there quite a few different police officers in Essex?"
Don't you talk to each other then, Jaded? Or have a big computer you can put intelligence on?
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