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119mph Sleights motorist 'put baby's life at risk'
A SLEIGHTS man who was caught driving at 119 miles per hour with his three-month-old daughter in the passenger seat has been disqualified from driving at Scarborough Magistrates' Court.
William Menzies (21) of Ingham Close, was seen by police speeding on the A64 York to Scarborough road at Whitwell-on-the-Hill, where the speed limit is 70mph, at around 5.20pm on 6 February.
Dawn Birkett, prosecuting, told the court that Menzies had been pulled over by officers who were "shocked" to see the baby in the front passenger seat of the Nissan Almera.
Marcus Topham, mitigating, said that Menzies "could only apologise" for his speed and said "he simply didn't realise he was going as fast as he was."
Mr Topham said that his client was taking his daughter to see his father, who is seriously ill in a care home in Castleford, and added: "It is a very fast stretch of road which can catch out a number of motorists."
He said that Menzies had accepted he was going to be disqualified from driving and asked for leniency from magistrates when considering the length of the ban.
Mr Topham added that Menzies had been in possession of a full driving licence for three years which had never been endorsed with any penalty points.
After the incident, Mr Topham said that Menzies had got his speedometer checked and it had been found to be giving a slow reading, although "he hasn't tried to use that as a defence."
Menzies was disqualified from driving for six months, ordered to pay a fine of 65, court costs of 45 and a victim surcharge of 15.
Edrene Rumley, the chairman of the bench, said: "This is a very serious matter. We view very dimly the fact that you had a young child in the car and how irresponsible it was to put her life at risk."
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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