Motorist who used gadget to foil speed cameras is JAILED
A BMW driver who attached a ‘laser jammer’ to his car to dodge speed cameras has been jailed.
Businessman Michael Twizell, 58, installed the device to block the signals which track how fast cars are travelling.
Officers launched an investigation after finding their equipment recorded an error code when Twizell drove past a police safety camera van on the A658 near Harrogate, North Yorkshire last February.
Twizell was arrested after police established he was using a device on the front of his BMW 3 Series that illegally interfered with police cameras. He was jailed for three months and fined £1,500 at York crown court yesterday after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice.
Speed cameras function by flashing an invisible light at oncoming cars to measure their speed. Jammers send out a laser signal of a similar frequency which effectively cancels out the camera’s own. While the gadgets are legal to buy and sell to use as parking sensors or garage door openers, it is illegal to trick a speed camera.
PC Andy Forth, from the traffic investigations team at North Yorkshire Police, said after the hearing: ‘To use a device which is capable of interfering with police speed measurement is clearly, as shown today, a very serious matter.
‘Drivers may face a custodial sentence for using such a device in this way.
‘North Yorkshire Police will continue to investigate similar allegations when people use these devices to interfere with the normal course of justice. I advise anyone who may have a similar device fitted to their vehicle to think about the consequences of using such a device and strongly recommend that they remove it from their vehicle to avoid a future prosecution.’
Sentencing, the judge told Twizell that police ‘ have a duty to protect us from speeding vehicles’, adding that the device interfered with that process. He stressed that perverting the course of justice was a ‘serious’ offence and the courts ‘must stop people offending in this way’, adding he had no choice but to impose an immediate custodial sentence.
Michael Twizell, of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, retired last year from his job as marketing director with the locally-based firm Elite Systems. The company builds ecofriendly commercial properties and homes.