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02/03/2009
Speeding Motorcyclist Jailed For Six Months
A motorcyclist who was caught speeding at 122mph with his 14-year-old son on the back has been jailed for six months.
Robert Bennett, 47, from Barnstaple in Devon, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at an earlier hearing, was also banned from the road for 18 months.
At Exeter Crown Court Judge Phillip Wassall told 47-year-old Bennett the police footage of him was "unbelievable".
The court heard Bennett was caught by a police camera on the A361 link road with his son clutching the back of the pillion seat with his bare hands.
His son was not wearing protective trousers or gloves at the time of the offence in April last year.
Bennett, who is divorced from the boy's mother, had picked up the 14-year-old boy for an access visit when he was caught by the police mobile speed camera on the North Devon Link Road, near South Molton.
He said he had "pulled back the throttle" on the Suzuki 1300cc motorbike because it had "started to rain".
Bennett's barrister David Sapiecha said his client had been riding bikes on and off road since he was a youngster, however he was sorry for his actions that day.
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."
(JM/BMcC)
Robert Bennett, 47, from Barnstaple in Devon, who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at an earlier hearing, was also banned from the road for 18 months.
At Exeter Crown Court Judge Phillip Wassall told 47-year-old Bennett the police footage of him was "unbelievable".
The court heard Bennett was caught by a police camera on the A361 link road with his son clutching the back of the pillion seat with his bare hands.
His son was not wearing protective trousers or gloves at the time of the offence in April last year.
Bennett, who is divorced from the boy's mother, had picked up the 14-year-old boy for an access visit when he was caught by the police mobile speed camera on the North Devon Link Road, near South Molton.
He said he had "pulled back the throttle" on the Suzuki 1300cc motorbike because it had "started to rain".
Bennett's barrister David Sapiecha said his client had been riding bikes on and off road since he was a youngster, however he was sorry for his actions that day.
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."
(JM/BMcC)
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