Woman bursts into tears as she's told 'all this over a speeding offence'
A woman who made up a false alibi to avoid picking up points from speeding wept in court as she avoided jail.
Debra Picken's actions were branded as "stupid" by a judge after she tried to avoid three points for speeding in her Land Rover at 45mph in a 30mph zone in June 2021. The points would not have taken her over the limit and led to her disqualification.
Chester Crown Court heard how she went to elaborate lengths in a bid to avoid having her licence endorsed. Over a two-year period the 53-year-old, from Warrington, denied it was her Land Rover and gave a false alibi. Just four days after she was clocked, she paid to have the registration number on the car changed.
Picken also placed an animal paw sticker on her vehicle to make it appear it was a different Land Rover to that caught on the speed camera. She falsely claimed to have witnesses who would testify to her being elsewhere at the time, the court was told.
Police eventually exposed Picken's lies after JPs convicted her in her absence of failing to provide documents and she went back to court to get the decision reviewed. She later claimed she had 'brain fog' and blamed her behaviour on anxiety issues.
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Earlier, prosecutor Ryan Rothwell said Picken, who was company director of a property management firm, had been caught on a hand held camera by a PCSO driving her Land Rover at 45mph in a 30mph on Knutsford Road, Latchford at 8.50am on June 9, 2021. The Land Rover was afterward captured on ANPR cameras in the Warrington area, and then at 9.15am on the M62.
Officers subsequently sent a section 172 notice on June 14 requesting details of the driver, which was not replied to and a reminder letter was sent out on July 13. Meanwhile, the registration plate was changed on the Land Rover on June 13 before Picken replied to section 172 on July 15 stating that she was not a driver.
"She included a letter saying that she was not in Warrington on the day in question", Mr Rothwell said. "She said the registration number of the car had changed. The context of the response is that it was not her car, saying that the registration had changed. The prosecution would say that she was deliberately misleading."
Mr Rothwell said a further letter was sent to Picken with front and back photos of the vehicle caught in ANPR and she was asked if the appearance of her car had changed. The court was told how she replied that her vehicle had not changed and that her vehicle was in Liverpool at the time of the speeding offence, reported the Manchester Evening News.
While she then conceded that the registration had changed since the speeding offence, she sent a picture of her car which appeared to show the addition of a paw sticker which she said distinguished it from the car captured on the ANPR. After being sent notice of intended prosecution for speeding, Mr Rothwell said that Picken further claimed to have witnesses who could place her car at her place of work at the time of the offence.
According to court records, in June 2022 Picken was found guilty in her absence of failing to produce documents and was given six points on her licence and ordered to pay £836 in fines and costs. The following October she went back to court to have the conviction reviewed. She pleaded guilty to failing to produce documents. The legal bill was reduced to £264 but she still had six points put on her licence. She insisted, however, that she had not deliberately misled the authorities.
"In interview, she maintained that she had not done anything wrong and had not been dishonest", Mr Rothwell said. "She claimed that she had dyslexia and may have made a mistake and had brain fog. She said she could not remember when the paw sticker was put on the car and said she has a history of anxiety."
Defending, Rose Proctor said: "Miss Picken is fully aware that the court will be looking at immediate custody but in this case it can suspend that sentence, in light of her mental ill health, the impact custody would have on her and the realistic prospect of rehabilitation in her case."
"Her mental health is described in the same passage as fragile. Miss Picken would be vulnerable in prison." Picken, of Weaste Lane, Warrington, faced six months jail under sentencing guidelines after she admitted perverting the course of justice. She sobbed uncontrollably as the six-month term was suspended for 12 months.
At the sentencing hearing last Thursday (January 11), Judge Steven Everett told her: "This is a very cautionary tale. You did this for the most stupid reasons and I am not even sure why you did it. Nobody is suggesting that your speeding offence was the most serious - yet for reasons I do not understand, you decided you were going to try to avoid that. You may or may not have genuinely believed it was not your car caught in the speed trap.
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"But there came a time when you undoubtedly realised that it was your car and then carried out a number of actions like putting a paw sticker on the vehicle. I am not sure if changing the registration was to try and put police off the scent - it was just so stupid. Undoubtedly, it cost you money just to change the registration. It is not free and undoubtedly, it caused you a lot of stress at the time to deal with police in that regard."
"All this just over a speeding offence, a speeding offence for which you were never going to be disqualified. You put yourself through a huge amount of stress just to avoid what would have been a deserved but relatively routine penalty in the Magistrates' Court. All this happened at a time when you had other stress ongoing so you created more stress for yourself by those stupid actions."
The judge added: "It is really important that everyone understands that those who pervert our system of justice deserve punishment. If people lie in court, or bring false evident, the system of justice is going to be affected and without a decent system that works well we are going to fall into anarchy."
"The message needs to be sent to others tempted to do this that they may not have the same mitigation that you have. To avoid a penalty for the offence of speeding, rather than receive three penalty points, or go on a speed awareness course, they instead go off to prison for many months."
"You thought you were going down those steps and off to prison and you were right to think that. You deserve a chance, today - but there is no second chance." Picken - who had no previous convictions - was also ordered to complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity with the probation service.
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