Man claimed dead wife was driving speeding car

A GRIEVING husband who used his dead wife’s name to avoid speeding tickets has been told he is facing a prison sentence.

Christopher Bingley, a management consultant who had set up a charity in memory of his late wife Joanne, filled in a speeding notice stating the 39-year-old had been driving her Jeep Cherokee car, five months after her death.

Mrs Bingley committed suicide in April 2010 when she threw herself under a train near Huddersfield following a battle with post-natal depression (PND) after the birth of their first child.

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Her husband blamed her death on PND and set up a charity to highlight the condition in February last year.

Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court heard earlier this month that the father-of-one continued to drive his late wife’s car and when he was caught speeding he had the points credited to her licence.

Bingley, of Allison Drive, Fartown, Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to three charges of doing acts tending or intended to pervert the course of justice at Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Two charges relate to separate speeding offences in August 2010 and the third allegation involves two further speeding matters in February and April 2011.

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All the charges state Bingley completed an S172 notice confirming that Joanne Bingley was driving the vehicle when a speeding offence was committed and he knew that she could not have been the driver at the time.

During a hearing lasting less than ten minutes at the crown court yesterday, Judge Christopher Batty agreed to adjourn Bingley’s case until May 1 to allow a pre-sentence report to be prepared and he granted the defendant unconditional bail.

“You’ve done the right thing and you’ll receive the maximum credit that can be given to you for having pleaded guilty,” the judge told Bingley.

“But these are serious offences and they attract custodial sentences and the court is very much considering one in your case.”

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The judge told Bingley to cooperate with the Probation Service in preparing a report about him and added: “A good report will stand you in much better stead than a poor one.”

Bingley has spoken in the past about how his wife, a nurse, struggled with severe depression following the birth of their daughter Emily.

He launched the Joanne (Joe) Bingley Memorial Foundation to highlight the illness and support those affected by post-natal depression.

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