Drunk driver paid friend £2,000 to take rap - both are jailed

Joe Colliver, 25, from Middleham in North Yorkshire, and Lewis John Purdie, 26, from Middlesbrough, were sentenced at Teesside Crown Court today after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice following a crash in the Yorkshire Dales.

In addition, Colliver was charged with drink-driving and banned from driving for 12 months with a five-month extension.

The court heard that in the early hours of Boxing Day last year, Colliver was involved in a crash on Middleham Road in Leyburn when he hit a wall in his Mitsubishi pick-up.

He abandoned the vehicle but he was later arrested at his home address on suspicion of drink-driving.

A breath test showed that he was twice the legal drink-drive limit. But in an attempt to avoid prosecution, Colliver claimed his car had been stolen.

However, officers did not believe him and the subsequent investigation by road policing officers confirmed that he was lying.

It later transpired that Colliver paid £2,000 to Lewis Purdie to take the blame for “stealing” the Mitsubishi and being involved in the collision.

Police officers from the North Yorkshire force then established that the vehicle had not been stolen and Colliver was in fact driving the pick-up when it crashed.

After the hearing, Sergeant Paul Cording of North Yorkshire Police’s Roads Policing Group, said: “This was a blatant attempt to avoid prosecution for the serious offence of drink-driving.

“Putting people’s lives at risk will not be tolerated, nor will lying to avoid justice for doing so.

“These convictions and sentences should send a clear message to anyone who naively believes that they can lie to the police and get away with it.”