A MAN who lied to police by telling them he was driving a car when his friend had actually been behind the wheel was branded a “twit” by a judge.
Officers saw a white Vauxhall Corsa being given “rather quickly” around Whitehaven just before midnight on November 29. They followed the vehicle, which was driven into the Bransty Arch Tesco store site, and watched as five men got out, one of them running away.
Kristian Tinkler, who had been drinking, falsely told police he‘d been the driver, failed a breath test, was arrested, underwent further testing and repeated the lie when interviewed.
Tinkler, 23, was charged and, after a friend came forward the following morning to identify himself as the actual driver, spent a total of 30 hours in custody.
Carlisle Crown Court heard Tinkler had allowed his Corsa to be driven by the pal. “He said it was because they were too lazy and too tight to get a taxi,” prosecutor Gerard Rogerson revealed.
When re-interviewed, Tinkler came clean and admitted he hadn’t wanted to get his friend into trouble. He admitted doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice, and permitting the use of a motor vehicle without insurance.
Marion Weir, defending, said of self-employed plasterer Tinkler – a man of previous good character: “This has been a salutary lesson for Mr Tinkler to the necessity to co-operate with the authorities. It really did take the wind out of his sails.”
Judge Peter Davies imposed a two-year community order comprising 100 hours’ unpaid work, and added six penalty points to the defendant’s previously clean driving licence.
“You are a twit,” Judge Davies told Tinkler, of Stanley View, Mirehouse, Whitehaven. “This was a persistent and sustained attempt to pervert the course of justice.”
