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Saturday, 5 October 2019

Man Jailed for Driving Whilst Disqualified for SEVENTH Time


A Haverfordwest man has been jailed by the town's Magistrates for driving whilst disqualified for the seventh time.

Stephen Jonathan, of Merlins Terrace in the town, admitted driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance when he appeared before Magistrates on 1st October 2019.

Driving whilst disqualified is an offence under section 103 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. It has maximum penalty of 26 weeks' custody and/or a fine at level 5 (unlimited) on summary conviction.

The court heard that Jonathan, 43, abandoned his Peugeot 207 on the roadside after colliding with a hedge on the morning of 10th September 2019.

Abdul Hussain, prosecuting, told the court that police received a report of an abandoned vehicle and went to investigate.

"Enquires showed Stephen Jonathan was the registered keeper and he was disqualified from driving," Mr Hussain said.

The police visited Jonathan's address and he admitted driving the vehicle the previous evening, despite being subject to a 14-month driving ban imposed earlier this year.

Katy Hanson, mitigating, said Jonathan, who had been given the car to repair and sell, had been testing it on the evening in question, and had planned to park it somewhere for sale.

"There was minimal damage to the vehicle. He realises it was wrong and apologises to the court for that," Miss Hanson told Magistrates.

Miss Hanson added that Jonathan, who previously worked as a plumber, was in 'significant financial difficulty' and was hoping to move into a property after a period of being homeless.

The court heard that he was desperate to get his life back on track.

This being Jonathan's seventh offence of driving whilst disqualified, it would have taken a remarkable feat of defence advocacy to avoid a stint in custody.

Jonathan was jailed for 16 weeks and banned from driving for 56 months (if it does any good).

He was ordered to pay £85 towards prosecution costs, £122 victim surcharge and had his licence endorsed with six further penalty points.

The chairman of the bench said: "This offence is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.

"You had driven within a short period since being disqualified, you were involved in a collision and this is the seventh time you have been convicted of driving while disqualified."

There will be a lot of people reading this of the opinion that 16 weeks in custody is insufficient punishment for a man who clearly has zero regard for court orders or the safety of fellow road users. 

Based on the information available I couldn't disagree with that opinion, but the maximum penalty of 26 weeks custody is enshrined in legislation. Given his early guilty plea, Jonathan was entitled to a discount of one-third on that sentence, which would bring it down to around the level imposed by the court.

The very valid argument about whether or not the maximum penalty is appropriate is one for the politicians, not the courts.

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