Dad took speeding points for son months before horror crash
A dad took the blame for speeding so his newly qualified driver son could avoid the points. Dewi George did not want to risk his son Owain Hammett-George’s brand new driving licence, a court heard.
Swansea Crown Court[1] heard that in February last year, Owain was caught speeding in his father’s Alfa Romeo. Just three months later, 17-year-old Owain was behind the wheel of the same car when it crashed leaving two young friends dead.
He was driving near a petrol station before crashing in a tragedy that claimed the lives of two of his passengers – Kaitlyn Davies and Ben Rogers who were both 19 years old. Even in the aftermath of the smash, Dewi George, 47, continued to lie about the speeding offence and went on a speed awareness course just weeks after the fatal crash.
Sian Cutter, prosecuting, told the court that at 12.12pm on February 28 last year a police-operated speed camera captured an image of an Alfa Romeo car travelling at 35mph on Cockett Road in Swansea. The road is subject to a 30mph speed limit, WalesOnline reports.[3]
Dewi is the registered keeper of the vehicle and his son and wife are insured to drive it. The court heard that when a notice of intended prosecution was sent to the defendant, he filled it in and said he had been the driver.
Ben Rogers (Image: PA)
The prosecutor said that on May 31, Owain was at the wheel of his father’s car when it was involved in a late-night crash at the Northway petrol station in Bishopston, Gower, that claimed the lives of passengers Kaitlyn Davies, from Blaenymaes, and Ben Rogers from Bonymaen. A third passenger was seriously injured and it is understood no other vehicles were involved in the collision.
As part of the investigation into the fatal crash, the police analysed Owain’s mobile phone and found messages that indicated he may have been involved in earlier speeding offences. This included talk of him having “a speeding fine to pay for.”
But as far as police were concerned, the teenager had never been caught speeding. Cops then began to look into Dewi’s acceptance of speeding from February.
The court heard personnel records from the Slug & Lettuce pub in Cardiff, where Owain worked, showed he had been on duty on the day of the speeding incident while a check of automatic number plate recognition cameras showed the defendant’s other car travelling eastward on the M4 in Port Talbot at 7.45am that day, driving in Cardiff, and then heading back towards Swansea at just after 6pm.
Meanwhile, an analysis of Dewi’s phone showed it was using a mobile mast in the Cockett area just seven minutes before the speed camera activation. Further checks of cameras in Cockett showed the Alfa Romeo in the area three times on the morning the ticket was issued while the defendant was at work in Cardiff.
Kaitlyn Davies (Image: PA)
The court heard that while the police investigation was continuing the defendant attended a speed awareness course on June 16 – less than three weeks after the fatal Bishopston crash. As a result of police inquiries the defendant was arrested at his place of work on November 24.
Dewi, of Awel Deg, Birchgrove, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. Judge Paul Thomas KC said when the speeding summons arrived at the defendant’s house requesting details of the driver it seemed George’s concern was that his son might lose the licence he had just acquired.
He said whether the teenager would have lost his licence or not was not known but to avoid that possibly George claimed he had been the driver. The judge said as a result of the defendant’s actions his son “was not in any way sanctioned, nor was he given speed awareness course… he got away with it scot-free… and most crucially he learned no lesson from it”.
Judge Thomas said while the outcome of the police investigation into the crash may not be known for some time he would proceed on the basis that there is “no direct correlation” between these two events. He added: “The anger of the families of those children must be immense and if they draw a correlation between the two events who can possibly blame them?”
He noted that just a couple of weeks after the “tragic accident” in Bishopston – and even when he knew two young people had died and the police were investigating the incident – the defendant “continued to pretend you were the driver” and attended a speed awareness course associated with the original speeding offence.
Judge Thomas said he accepted the defendant’s remorse was sincere but he said the offence of perverting the course of justice strikes at the heart of the justice system and almost always results in immediate custody. He said he would be failing in his public duty were he to impose any sentence other than one that would deter people from acting in the same way in the future.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea George was sentenced to four months in prison. He will serve up to half that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The judge expressed his very sincere condolences to the families of the teenagers who lost their lives in the crash.
References
- ^ Swansea Crown Court (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
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