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Off Topic Forums => General Chat => Politics, News and Religion => Topic started by: GAZBEROTTEN on March 02, 2009, 07:34:00 PM

Title: Speeding Motorcyclist
Post by: GAZBEROTTEN on March 02, 2009, 07:34:00 PM
A motorcyclist who was caught speeding at 122mph with his 14-year-old son clinging on to the bike was jailed today for six months and banned from the road for 18 months.

Judge Phillip Wassall told Robert Bennett police footage showing him on the 60mph road was "unbelievable".

Bennett, 47, was caught by a police camera on the A361 North Devon link road with his son, who was not wearing protective trousers or gloves, riding pillion on his 1,300cc Suzuki.

Exeter crown court heard Bennett, who was divorced from the boy's mother, had just picked him up for a visit when the incident happened, in April last year.

He opened the throttle on a road, and a police officer activated a speed camera when he heard the bike accelerating towards a bend.

The device clocked the speed and also picked up an image of the boy holding the back of the seat with his bare hands.

Bennett's barrister, David Sapiecha, said his client had been riding at that speed for no more than half a mile on the two-lane carriageway.

Sapiecha told the judge Bennett had ridden bikes on- and off-road since he was a young man, but he regretted his actions that day.

He is likely to serve half of the six-month sentence, and will have to take an extended driving test at the end of his disqualification.

Judge Wassall told him: "Had you lost control, the motorcycle would have become a missile and it is certain there would have been a serious accident or, highly probably, the death of a least one other road user.

"Added to that fact you had your 14-year-old son on the back, the lack of responsibility is unbelievable. This is so dangerous that the court cannot avoid a custodial sentence to send a message out."

Bennett, a cleaning supervisor from Barnstaple, north Devon, admitted dangerous driving.

Speaking outside court, Pc Duncan Russell from the Devon and Cornwall safety camera partnership said: "Robert Bennett accepted that what he did was dangerous, and the sentence passed by the court today reflects how serious this incident was.

"He was lucky his actions did not lead to anyone being hurt. Had he lost control of his motorcycle at that speed, the result, I'm sure, would have been fatal.

"If anyone has a high-powered motorcycle and they want to ride quickly, please go to the comparative safety of a race track. Do not do it on public roads."

Motorcyclist Robert Bennett caught riding at 122mph by a police camera on the A361, with his son riding pillion. Photograph: Devon & Cornwall police/PA

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This guy deserved a good 10 year stretch inside along with a 5 year supervision order. The justice system was to leinient with him. God knows what social services thought of that. Your thoughts.