An ex-police officer who tried to dodge a speeding fine by claiming a Frenchman was driving his vehicle at the time was jailed today. Hrm, now surely it's not a common occurrence for somebody to get a jail term for perverting the course of justice and speeding 8mph over the limit? Copper or no copper, it's harsh, but I guess the lying was what got the judge's goat (doesn't this happen every time a guilty person defends themselves?).
Mark Cuthbertson, 49, thought it was his force's policy to disregard a speeding offence if a foreign national was named as the driver, a court was told. So when the then serving officer was clocked travelling at 38mph in a 30mph zone on the A52 at Brailsford in May 2005 he claimed a fictitious "Jean-Pierre Renard of Paris" had been the driver.
But a speed camera clearly snapped the policeman behind the wheel of the Ford Transit minibus. The vehicle belonged to the taxi firm Cuthbertson had set up in preparation for his retirement. Cuthbertson was found guilty of perverting the course of justice in a trial at Leicester Crown Court.
Sentencing him at the same court today to nine months in prison, Judge Philip Head said: "This is a tragedy. It's a tragedy for the police force for which you had served for 30 years and a tragedy for the public, which expects the highest standards from its police officers."
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