Does Judge Jim Tindal Believe In Father Christmas Too..?

Judge Jim Tindal said: "I'm conscious you have two young children and have Christmas coming up. A short sharp shock is what is called for in your case. You can be back with your kids, where you belong, before Christmas time."

What did he do, a bit of drunk & disorderly? Littering?

Simon Phillips, prosecuting, said the first incident of dangerous driving happened on July 24 this year at around 8.30pm.

An officer performed checks on a Volkswagen Golf registered to a female and identified as being uninsured. The officer illuminated his car's blue lights but the defendant drove off along Belmont Street at 40mph, breaking the 30mph speed limit in a residential area. He drove along Victoria Street, running a red light and headed onto St Martin's Street, running a second red light over the old bridge, contravened a no-entry sign and drove into King Street towards the Cathedral.

Simon Phillips, prosecuting, said: "Police officers stopped the chase at that stage. They felt it was too dangerous and did not wish to cause any further collision."

Ah. And not was that the only offence that saw him in the dock.

On the following night police chased Newman again. This time the defendant was behind the wheel of a Peugeot 309 and once again he failed to stop when officers illuminated blue lights.

Newman drove along Belmont Road, turned towards the Oval and on to Great Western Way.

"A pedestrian had to jump out of the way as the car drove down a pedestrian walkway" said Mr Phillips. Again, because of the dangerousness of the driving police had to call off the pursuit.

However, other officers became involved later. At one point Newman stopped the car and officers expected him to run. Mr Phillips said: "The Peugeot accelerated towards the police car and the officer had to dive back into the police car to avoid injury.

"The Peugeot struck the door of the car as it drove off and made its escape."

Why is driving a vehicle at someone not attempted murder?

But what about that bizarre leniency from the bewigged cretin? Does he have an otherwise clean record??

In police interview he made a full and frank admission. He had been disqualified from driving on December 7, 2017 for 18 months. He had previous convictions including for drug driving, siphoning off fuel from a lorry, breaking into a kebab van, stealing a chainsaw and for criminal damage and threatening behaviour.

The excuses must have been even better than the usual ones trotted out, then?

Michael Aspinall, defending, accepted that the offence crossed the custody threshold. He said Newman had a chaotic family life and that his father was a heroin addict and had texted his son to tell him that he intended to kill himself.

Newman suffers from ADHD, Asperger's Syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder.

"To use his word to me, he is 'disgusted' with himself" said Mr Aspinall.

Newman said: "I have been an idiot in the past and now it's time for change. Enough is enough. I want to be a positive father for my children not like my father was and I have to change."

That's another 'Nope!' them.