A 55-year-old man from Bolton has appeared at Bradford Crown Court today (Friday 16 March 2018) and pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and exceeding the speed limit.
On Sunday 2 July 2017 at around 11.45am Geoffrey Alan Davies of Plodder Lane, Farnworth, Bolton was captured travelling at 86 miles per hour by a North Yorkshire Police safety camera van, whilst riding his Yamaha R1 motorbike along the B6479 at Selside near Ribblehead, a road with a 60 miles per hour limit.
Davies realised that the safety camera van had captured him travelling over the specified limit, so before he reached the van he pulled his bike over and obscured the registration plate of his motorbike by wrapping a piece of black clothing over it, in an attempt to evade prosecution and prevent the camera from recording his details.
TC Andy Forth from North Yorkshire Police Traffic Bureau undertook an extensive investigation and located and interviewed Davies. After initially denying the offence and disposing of the leathers he was wearing that day, Davies pleaded guilty to both the offence of exceeding the speed limit and perverting the course of justice.
He appeared at Bradford Crown Court and was handed a nine month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work. He was also given 3 points on his licence and a £200 fine.
Speaking about the investigation and court result, TC Andy Forth said;
Davies went to great length to evade justice – covering his number plate and disposing of his leathers, in the belief that North Yorkshire Police would not pursue the case. If he had faced the facts and held his hands up to the speeding offence, the matter would have been dealt with swiftly and he would of received three points on his licence and faced a £100 fine and the matter would have been over.
Instead he has had to go through the criminal justice system and appear at Crown Court today, pleading guilty to charges of perverting the course of justice and exceeding the speed limit and received suspended prison sentence.
North Yorkshire Police take the matter of perverting the course of justice incredibly seriously and will always investigate incidents like these and bring the matter before the courts. To behave in this manner is simply not acceptable.
