A MAN has been a jailed for perverting the course of justice after failing to identify the driver of a car caught speeding on the Dartford Crossing and then trying to cover the failure up.
A Jaguar XK registered to Robert Looker, 63, then of Brewery Lane, Stansted was caught doing 59mph in a 50mph stretch over the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge from Thurrock into Kent on Wednesday, November 26, 2014.
A combined Notice of Intended Prosecution and a Section 172 notice was sent to Looker’s address requiring him to provide us with the details of the driver.
On December 23 we received correspondence from Looker in the form of an incomplete response form and a covering letter within which he contested the speed limit but failed to identify the driver.
Due to this failure to nominate a driver he was then summonsed to appear at court.
At Southend Magistrates’ Court on March 14, 2016, before the trial could take place, a letter was handed to the Crown Prosecutor which Looker claimed was a copy of the one sent to us showing he had actually nominated himself as the driver.
The two letters were compared and a discrepancy between them noted in respect to the driver nomination.
Following a further investigation Looker was charged with perverting the course of justice and, following a three-day trial at Ipswich Crown Court, was found guilty on August 23, 2017.
At the same court on Friday, January 19 he was sentenced to six months in prison.
Adam Pipe, Casualty Reduction Manager, said: “Robert Looker made a deliberate attempt to cover up the fact he hadn’t identified himself as the driver originally and will now pay the price for perverting the course of justice.
“If he had admitted he was the driver to start off with he would have been entitled to a speed awareness course.
“The fact that he didn’t now means he will spend time behind bars.
“I hope he questions whether trying to get out of a speeding offence in 2014 is really worth going to prison now.”
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