A MAN who gave fake details to police to get away with driving whilst banned has been jailed.
James Roberts, of Daisy Road Brynteg, appeared at Mold Crown Court for sentence on Thursday.
The 38-year-old had previously admitted two offences of driving whilst disqualified and two of committing acts with intent to pervert the course of justice.
Catherine Elvin, prosecuting, told the court that on March 7 last year, police stopped a red Vauxhall van as it appeared to be travelling too fast.
The driver was Roberts, but he gave the name Craig Meyers and a false date of birth.
Police checks confirmed Mr Meyers was indeed the registered keeper of the vehicle.
An officer found a small bag of white powder in Roberts' possession, but after he admitted it belonged to him, the police agreed to refer him to Checkpoint for an out of court disposal.
Subsequently, Craig Meyers - who had nothing to do with the offences and was completely innocent - was invited to attend Checkpoint regarding the defendant's actions.
He made it clear to the service that he was not the driver of the van on March 7, which led to an investigation.
Further checks led officers to find out who Roberts really was.
It was discovered he was connected to a BMW vehicle which was active on the police automatic number plate recognition system.
On July 7, he was stopped in Brynteg and once again gave Craig Meyers' details, but when challenged he admitted he was Roberts and he was a banned driver.
MORE COURT NEWS
He further admitted the same was true of his stop in March and apologised.
The court heard he had a number of motoring offences on his record, including driving without insurance, drink driving, drug driving, speeding and driving whilst banned.
"And he accepts they're serious, but they do fall towards the lower end of the scale.
"It comes down to him providing false details when he was stopped on two occasions.
"The offending is unsophisticated and fortunately no other person was prosecuted for his actions.
"He is a man in employment with a good work record who accepts what he did was wrong and he deserves to be punished."
The court heard the defendant is to be sentenced in the coming weeks for separate motoring matters in the Magistrates Courts, which were committed in December.
Judge Rhys Rowlands told the defendant: "Clearly you learned little after being stopped twice.
"It is plain to me that as of last year you were determined to ignore the court's order of disqualification because it suited you to do so.
"You gave false details so as to hide that fact.
"Such deliberate lying and trying to deceive the police is viewed as an extremely serious offence.
"It strikes at the very heart of the justice system."
The defendant was jailed for a total of eight months and received a 16 month driving ban.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here