Published: July 9, 2012
Highbridge motorist 'lucky to escape custodial jail term' say police

Police have given their reaction to a 44-year-old Highbridge man being found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice after trying to outwit police rather than accept a speeding offence.

As first reported here, Edward Osgood from Highbridge was caught speeding on his motorbike by a mobile speed camera but he decided to try and evade prosecution by modifying his bike and changing his own appearance.

PC Daniel Cox said this week: "This gentleman learned the hard way that it's not so easy to pull the wool over our eyes."

"The rules are there for a reason and we have all kinds of high-tech equipment at our disposal to make sure people stick to them. At the end of the day we just want to keep the roads safe for everyone to use."

The man demanded to see photographic evidence of himself and then provided photos of the same bike having been modified and himself wearing different motorbike leathers to try and prove it wasn't him.

Officers quickly concluded it was the same man and when the case came to court the courts agreed with the police.

The man was given a three month suspended sentence, 110 hours unpaid work and points on his license.

PC Cox continued: "He was lucky not to receive a custodial prison sentence as attempting to pervert the course of justice is an extremely serious offence."

"If he'd simply accepted the charges in the first place he'd have just received some points but instead he chose to waste everyone's time and money and now he's paid the price."