Cops pulled over to help couple with burst tyre - before they spun a web of lies
A couple whose car broke down ended up in court after police officers discovered the man was banned from driving - just days before it was due to expire.
John Brown and Sally Colligan were spotted as they pulled their car over into the hard shoulder on Knowsley Expressway in Merseyside. Police spotted the pair with a burst tyre so went over "to see if they could help" along the A5300 on March 24 last year.
On Thursday, Liverpool Crown Court heard how Brown was behind the wheel of his Citroen C4 before he stopped the car. He told officers that the wheel started "shaking and moving" before the puncture. But when they checked his details, the system flagged that he had been disqualified from driving for six months in October 2022.
This ban had been due to expire within days of the incident. Colligan was heard to remark: "I wish I had driven." However, following his arrest, Brown "stated that he had not been driving at all", and that his 34-year-old girlfriend had been behind the wheel. She was visited by officers three weeks later on April 11, and gave a statement in which she "confirmed she had been the driver at all times".
But Merseyside Police then checked automatic number plate recognition cameras, which "clearly showed" that Colligan had been in the passenger seat shortly before the puncture, reports Liverpool Echo. Brown was interviewed again but "stuck to his story", while his partner was then quizzed by detectives and also "maintained her story that she had been the driver".
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John Brown only had a few days left on the ban (Liverpool Echo)
Sally pretended to have been the person behind the wheel (Liverpool Echo)The dad-of-two was previously handed a 12-week imprisonment suspended for 18 months in January 2023 for an offence of battery against a former partner, as well as having one further conviction for criminal damage in 2019. Charles Lander, appearing on his behalf, said that there had been a "complete change" in the Gousto warehouse supervisor, whom he described as being the "complete opposite of the man from two years ago".
He added: "Ultimately, I am asking the court whether this was a serious manipulation or was this an act of absolute stupidity. He is adamant that this was the first time he had driven since he had been disqualified.
"He thought the disqualification was up. When it came back to him that he was still disqualified, panic set in.
"This defendant takes complete responsibility for both of their actions. He accepts he has brought his co-defendant into this and ruined her good character by her understandable attempts to just follow what he said.
"He worked hard to rid himself of any addiction he had. He is now making his way up from where he landed himself.
"He has ultimately changed his life. That is why I appeal to the mercy of the court."
Colligan meanwhile has no previous convictions. John Rowan, defending, told the court that his client had "significant health issues" and had been a veterinary nurse for six years.
He added: "I am grateful that he has taken responsibility for Ms Colligan's involvement. It is a sense of misplaced loyalty which has caused her to do something wholly out of character.
"This young woman has worked all her life and has prided herself in her law-abiding nature and ability to stay out of trouble. Ms Colligan appears in the dock today broken."
Brown admitted perverting the course of justice, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and breaching a suspended sentence order. He leant forward and put his head in his hands weeping as he was locked up for 36 weeks and banned from the roads for 44 weeks, while Colligan was seen wiping away tears.
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She pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and was handed a four-month imprisonment suspended for 18 months, a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 15 days and 80 hours of unpaid work. Sentencing, Recorder Martin Reid said: "In your case, Mr Brown, your previous convictions are an aggravating feature.
"You accept that you involved another person in this conduct, namely your co-defendant. In your case Ms Colligan, I take into account that you have no previous convictions.
"I assess that you were in a subordinate role. Both of you feel shame and remorse.
"Mr Brown, you take full responsibility for what both of you did. Even if these offences took place out of panic, it was still an attempt to pervert the course of justice which was serious."
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