Criminal paid friend to carry out punishment

A tearaway ordered by magistrates to complete 180 hours of unpaid work for driving while disqualified paid his friend to carry out the punishment for him.

Ryan Straker paid Ben Spilsbury up to £25 a time to cover for him for six months. The stand-in completed more than 128 hours before the ruse was rumbled, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The court heard Straker also allowed his girlfriend, 24-year-old Kaleigh Sargent, to take the blame when he crashed her Mazda RX8 as the car was pursued by police in Low Hill last June.

Two days later Sargent repeated the lie in an insurance claim. She received a £4,625 payout in two cheques, one of which was found in a Vauxhall Corsa rented by her and driven by Straker when he was stopped again for driving while disqualified in July, the court heard yesterday.

Sargent then reported that the cheque had been stolen and the insurers sent a replacement, said prosecutor Miss Rhiannon Jones.

Straker, aged 21, and his girlfriend then threatened a 16-year-old girl and her parents in a bid to stop them giving evidence in another unrelated court case.

Mr Bernard Linnemann, defending Straker, from Perry Avenue, Low Hill, said: "He got somebody else to pervert the course of justice and do his unpaid work because he was too busy with drugs to do it himself."

Miss Samantha Powis, for Sargent, of Low Hill Crescent, Low Hill, said her law- breaking was due to her involvement with Straker.

Straker admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and harassment. He was sent to custody for three years and banned from driving for four years. Spilsbury, aged 21, of Fallings Lane, Bushbury, pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice and was locked up for six months.

Sargent admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice, fraud, witness intimidation and harassment and was given a 12-month jail term, suspended under supervision for 18 months, with 100 hours of unpaid work and a six-month tag.