Google Street View helped catch driver who gave false name in Wakefield police stop
An uninsured driver who gave his partner’s ex husband’s name after being stopped by police was caught out after evidence emerged of the vehicle on Google Street View.
The victim was shocked when he was received a letter saying he had missed his court case more than a year later, which went ahead in his absence, owed more than £1,000 in fines and costs and had six penalty points on his licence.
It was only after he told the police, then did research himself on Google and on Facebook did the truth come to light - that it was Stuart Bell who had been driving the Vauxhall Corsa van.
Bell, 50, appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week where he admitted a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
It was heard that the Corsa was pulled over in the Wakefield area on August 14, 2022 when the vehicle flashed up as having no insurance. The incident was also captured on the officer’s body-worn camera.
Instead of coming clean, Bell gave the name of his partner’s former husband to officers. Bell’s partner was also in the vehicle at the time.
On January 8 last year the victim received the letter and immediately informed the police. Suspecting it was Bell, he found the Corsa on Google Street View parked outside where Bell lived.
Like all vehicles on the website, the registration plate was blurred out but he found further evidence of it belonging to Bell on Facebook. The details were passed to police. Rightly, the victim later successfully appealed the conviction.
Bell, of Quest Avenue, Hemingfield, Barnsley, was arrested but during his interview denied knowing anything about the police stop or the Corsa, despite the overwhelming evidence.
He has five previous convictions for nine offences, including a 17-month ban for drug driving, but which had expired at the time he was pulled over in the Corsa.
Mitigating, Rhianydd Clement said Bell accepted that the custody threshold had been passed.
She claimed Bell thought he was insured but realised he was not when he was asked to stop. She said: “There was no planning, he thought the complainant was insured so provided his details.
“It was not malicious to try and get him into trouble. He did not realise there would be repercussions. He is remorseful and wishes to apologise, through me, to the court and the complainant.”
Judge Richard Mansell KC told Bell that despite “clear evidence”, he had initially denied wrongdoing, and that previously this type of offending would have meant immediate custody because it “strikes at the heart of justice”.
However, he opted to give him an eight-month sentence, suspended for 12 months, with 150 hours of unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation days to complete with the probation service.