Father persuaded his son to take his speeding points

The Warwickshire Justice Centre in Leamington, where Warwick Crown Court is located.

Martin Lithgo fell out with his partner who tipped off the police about the deception.

And at Warwick Crown Court, the 55-year-old, of Alderman Way, Weston-under-Wetherley, and his son Craig Lithgo, aged 29, of Readers Close, Dunstable, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Both men were sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work each, with Lithgo senior being ordered to pay £335 costs and Craig Lithgo £200.

Prosecutor Ian Speed said that in November last year Martin Lithgo’s Jaguar was clocked by a speed trap doing 42 in a 30mph zone.

He returned home and contacted Craig and convinced him to accept the penalty points.

And when he subsequently received a form on December 14 requiring him to identify the driver of the car, Lithgo entered his son’s details before returning it.

As a result a similar form was then sent to Craig who falsely accepted he had been driving his father’s Jaguar at the time.

“Unfortunately for Martin Lithgo, he fell out with his then-partner who informed the police what he had done,” said Mr Speed, and both men admitted the offences when they were arrested.

Paul O’Keefe, for Martin Lithgo, said: “He has had no previous dealings with the courts or with the police, other than penalty points on his licence.”

Mr O’Keefe pointed out that when the police became aware of what had happened, Lithgo, who works for Cemex UK where he is ‘very well thought of,’ attended the police station voluntarily and made a full admission, as did his son.

Recorder Christopher Goodchild indicated: “It seems to me his attitude does him credit, and I’m not going to send him or his son away.”

Martin Groves, for Craig Lithgo, handed in a number of references, including one from former Dunstable mayor Cllr Liz Jones.

Recorder Goodchild told the father and son: “People think it is nothing to get someone else to take the points; but what is actually happening there is an effort to pervert the course of justice, something which goes right to the root of how justice is  administered.

“That is why such, to some people, a petty matter has a sentence of imprisonment attached to it.”