Leeds man who took 14 drivers' speeding points for £100 payments is jailed for perverting justice

Police launched an investigation in March after noticing Belle Isle man Mark Clarke's name and details had been filled in on a suspicious number of notices of intended prosecution forms of drivers who had triggered speed cameras.

Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, said: "They looked at CCTV and saw that on 14 separate occasions the individual keepers provided this defendant's name.

"The footage was looked at and some of them were women and some of them were clearly not the defendant.

"He was attempting to take the points for these people.

"Police went to see these individuals and thought was given to prosecuting them as well.

"The police and the Crown are now in negotiations about how that can move forward."

The court heard Clarke, 34, had been offering to take speeding points in return for £100.

Miss Pearson said: "He was a disqualified driver so it didn't make a difference to him."

The court heard nine of the 14 have been successfully prosecuted for the traffic offences.

Clarke, of Aberfield Rise, Belle Isle, admitted perverting the course of justice between May 24 2019 and March 1 2020.

He has five previous convictions for ten offences including handling stolen goods, benefit fraud and theft.

Miss Pearson said: "The offences took place over a significant period of time. It was a concerted effort to pervert the course of justice."

Peter Burne, mitigating, said Clarke committed the offences to get money to look after his children.

Mr Burne said: "He was in difficult financial circumstances at the time of the offending."

Jailing Clarke for two years, Judge Neil Clark told him: "The court process is important, it has to be protected, otherwise it doesn't work. In doing this you were assisting people in getting away with their crimes.