Motorcyclist jailed after police seize camera footage

Helmet camera footage showed 60-year-old pulling wheelies and hitting 153mph

WEST Sussex police have jailed a 60-year-old man who recorded himself pulling wheelies and hitting 153mph on the road on his Honda Fireblade.

Selsey resident Robert Hammond was stopped on the A27 near Chichester in April last year after police saw him pulling a wheelie, undertaking and doing 80mph in a 50mph zone. Officers seized the memory card from his camera and discovered that it contained more than 150 incriminating clips of him riding dangerously and illegally.

The footage included Hammond pulling a wheelie in a housing estate before accelerating to over 110mph while still in a 30mph zone. Other clips included him entering a 30mph limit at 95mph, crossing solid white lines to overtake traffic, travelling in excess of 120mph on country lanes, overtaking in excess of 140mph and hitting an indicated of 153mph on a dual carriageway.

He was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and his bike was seized along with the helmet camera.

After pleading guilty to four counts of dangerous driving at Chichester Crown Court on Friday, Hammond was sentenced to six months in prison, to run consecutively for each offence. The judge said he’d be in prison for at least a year. When he gets out, he’ll be disqualified for two years and required to take an extended retest before being allowed to drive again.

Sergeant Alan Spicer said: ‘The footage on his headcam showed evidence of some outrageously bad motorcycling. It is a miracle that other road users had not been seriously injured or killed, due to the way he was driving his motorbike and the speeds he was reaching.   

‘This sentence sends out a message to drivers that we will prosecute you if you are caught driving in a dangerous manner.’

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