Judge blasts Notts Police over speeding Superintendent

A NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Police chief caught driving at 79mph in a 50mph has been awarded six penalty points and a £1500 fine, along with a verbal blasting from the presidung judge.

Superintendent Helen Chamberlain, 43, was clocked driving at 79mph on the 50mph A6097 between Epperstone and Oxton in July last year, but was told by the junior PC who pulled her over that she would not be prosecuted.

But a senior officer reviewed the case and, along with the Crown Prosection Sevice, decided Mrs Chamberlain should face trial.

Initially, Superintendent Chamberlain denied the charge, claiming the speed gun used to capture the offence was inaccurate but changed her plea to 'guilty' on the day her trial was due to start.

In court, District Judge Tim Devas criticised her constabulary for resolving ‘serious offences’ through reprimands.

He told Nottingham magistrates: "The police have certain powers regarding criminal offences to make decisions regarding whether or not to prosecute, or issue a caution or reprimand.

"In the year I have been in Nottingham I have been extremely alarmed by the amount of cases where officers took it upon themselves to issue cautions or deal with cases in the way this officer did."

Continuing the verbal pasting, Judge Devas said: "If it was 59mph in a 30mph zone, can you imagine in any of your wildest dreams that any of us would get off?

"The public might think it was because of who Mrs Chamberlain was, and that does not reflect very well on Notts Constabulary."