Porsche-driver lawyer caught speeding seven times in just eight months

A SENIOR lawyer was branded a ‘disgrace to his profession’ after being caught speeding in his Porsche and Mercedes sports cars seven times in eight months.

Matt Fleetwood, 49, already had nine points on his driving licence for road traffic offences when he appeared before magistrates in Manchester this week.

A court heard he was clocked driving his £120,000 Panamera Turbo – which can reach speeds of up to 192mph and does 0 to 60mph in only 3.4seconds – five times over the 30mph limit and twice in his £72,000 Mercedes S350 on the same stretch of road.

On one occasion he was caught by a speed camera 19mph over the limit. All seven offences – he was caught at speeds of between 38mph and 49mph – took place between November and July last year.

Fleetwood, who until recently lived in a £1.2million barn conversion in Lymm, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to the seven charges, but claimed he had been on ‘autopilot’ as he drove to work and had forgotten that the limit on Princess Parkway, a main route into Manchester, had been cut from 40mph to 30mph.

The father-of-two also said he was stressed because of his workload and because his marriage had collapsed, forcing him to move home.

But JPs gave Fleetwood, who is chief executive at Manchester-based Beyond Corporate Ltd, a dressing down over his conduct, before banning him from the road for six

Ban: Fleetwood at court months and ordering him to pay a £3,300 fine. The chairman of the bench told Fleetwood: ‘You stand there looking embarrassed and so you should. You’re an absolute disgrace to your profession, sir.’

Peter Grogan, defending, told the court his client, of Knutsford, Cheshire, was ‘deeply embarrassed’ by the number of offences.

‘He has been regularly driving along that road for some 20 years,’ Mr Grogan said. ‘The speed limit has been 40mph for most of that period and it changed to 30mph about three years ago.

‘If you look at the offence times, it is clear he is travelling to work… doing so on autopilot, as it were – thinking about the day ahead and the responsibilities a man of his position faces.’

Mr Grogan said Fleetwood had separated from his wife and is estranged from his 21-year-old son, who is a student, and 23-year- old daughter, a trainee lawyer.

Fleetwood was formerly managing partner of multi-national firm Fieldfisher before he and a colleague founded the Beyond Professional Services Group in 2017. The practice specialises in corporate finance, corporate restructuring and mergers and acquisitions.

‘You’re an absolute disgrace, sir’