A HIGHBRIDGE man made a ‘costly mistake’ after attempting to ‘mislead’ police officers to avoid a speeding fine.

Edward Osgood, 43, of Burnham Road, Highbridge pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice between October 10 last year and March 1, at Taunton Crown Court on June 29.

Osgood was caught speeding on his motorbike by a mobile speed camera along the A38 in Bridgwater but tried to evade prosecution by modifying his bike, by changing the wing mirrors, indicators and stickers.

But when a police officer visited him at home they found he had returned the bike to its original state, just like the one caught on camera.

The officer also checked a van he owned and discovered through the police’s Automatic Numberplate Recognition system (ANPR) that, despite not having a licence, Osgood had used it about 50 times.

Chief Inspector Yannis Georgiou, of the Road Policing Unit, said: “This case shows that trying to evade prosecution is a costly mistake. The defendant should have admitted his original speeding offence at the time, but instead he tried to mislead us and has ended up with a far more severe sentence.

“Police in Avon and Somerset take speeding extremely seriously and deal robustly with offenders. We are determined to make our roads safer for all users.”

Osgood received a three month jail sentence which was suspended for two years and was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. He also received six points on his license.

PC Daniel Cox said: “This man learned the hard way that it’s not so easy to pull the wool over our eyes.

“He was lucky not to receive a custodial prison sentence as attempting to pervert the course of justice is an extremely serious offence.

“If he’d simply accepted the charges in the first place he’d have just received some points but instead he chose to waste everyone’s time and money and now he’s paid the price.”