Jail for speeding fraud

Three people – including a man from Rochdale - were jailed at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, for falsifying speeding tickets.

Wiqas Ahmed, aged 42, from Rochdale but formerly of Bradley Road, Slough, pleaded guilty to five counts of perverting the course of justice in January and was sentenced to 21 months in custody for each count, to run concurrently.

Mario Sardo, aged 45, from Cherry Garden Lane, Littlewick Green, Maidenhead, pleaded guilty to four counts of perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to 12 months for each count, to run concurrently.

Both men were also disqualified from driving for six months.

Three drivers were sentenced at the court on Friday for using Sardo and Ahmed to escape speeding fines.

When a driver had been caught speeding and sent a letter asking for the driver to be named, they took the paperwork to Ahmed or Sardo who, for a fee of up to £400, would initiate a reply to the police with false driver details.

Some of these false driver nominations resulted in fictitious people being convicted at magistrates’ court, as well as another person who had been falsely nominated as a driver who knew nothing of the offence until bailiffs knocked on his door demanding £600 of court fines.

Officers used handwriting analysis and investigated a number of addresses linked to the scam, which led to Ahmed and Sardo pleading guilty. Police identified over 100 speeding offences linked to the men and charged the three people who appeared at court on Friday.

Neil Fordham, aged 43, of Barkham Rise, Finchampstead, was found guilty by a jury to two counts of perverting the course of justice and sentenced to five months in custody for each offence, to run concurrently. He was disqualified from driving for six months.

Janet Terry, aged 70, from St Lukes Road, Old Windsor, pleaded guilty to one count of perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, a three month curfew, and disqualified from driving for three months.

Rebecca Ward, aged 45, of Cloud Way, Maidenhead pleaded guilty to one count of perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to 15 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and a two month curfew.

PC Carl Lewis, from the Fixed Penalty Support Unit, Thames Valley Police, said: “Most excess speed offences result in an offer of a speed awareness course or three penalty points and a £60 fine. If you listen to someone who tells you of ‘legal loopholes’ and to give them cash and the forms to be ‘sorted out’, I think you know exactly what you are getting into.

“The sentences handed down for providing police false information often carry a period in custody as well as disqualification from driving. A big risk compared to the penalties for speeding.”