Driver who fixed laser jammer onto his VW work van to dodge speeding tickets is fined £3,000 and spared jail
- Jason Moore was found guilty of perverting the course of justice
- Jury at Swansea Crown Court did not believe his defence for using laser jammer
- Moore was sentenced to 32 weeks’ custody, suspended for two years
- Ordered to pay costs and fines totalling £3,000 and a curfew was imposed
A driver who installed a laser jamming device in his work van to avoid speeding tickets has been spared jail but ordered to pay £3000.
Jason Moore was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after he fitted a Laser Star jamming device to a VW Transporter van.
A jury at Swansea Crown Court heard a laser speed camera operator couldn’t tell the speed of the vehicle as it raced along the A40 in St Clears, Carmarthenshire, at 12mph over the speed limit.
James Hartson, prosecuting, told the court that in September 2018, the van was seen being driven at high speed as it approached the speed camera, approaching Camarthen.
When the camera operator tried to measure the vehicle’s speed, an error message showed. The operator had been trained by experts at Road Safety Support to recognise what the message meant and an expert was drafted in.
Jason Moore was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after he fitted a Laser Star jamming device to a VW Transporter van
Police took the van to investigate the device and found the van was travelling at 72mph in a 60mph zone
Steve Callaghan, Dyfed-Powys Police’s forensic video analyst and laser jammer expert, confirmed that there was a suspect device visible in the video images.
He also spotted the laser jammer flashing light from the grille of the van as the error messages were produced by the laser speedmeter.
Police took the van to investigate the device and found it was travelling at 72mph in a 60mph zone.
Mr Moore claimed he didn’t know that the Laser Star jamming system was capable of blocking the speed measurement function of a police speedmeter. He said he bought the device because it had a parking sensor function.
David Winstanley, a retired police collision investigator, was hired by Mr Moore as an expert witness who claimed to have sufficient expertise in laser and video systems.
Mr Winstanley insisted the Laser Star was sold as a ‘parking sensor’ and should not be considered as primarily a laser jamming device.
Andy Cox, detective chief superintendent with Lincolnshire Police, tweeted: ‘Great work in helping to expose this criminality’
A jury at Swansea Crown Court heard a laser speed camera operator couldn’t tell the speed of the car as it raced along the A40 in St Clears, Carmarthenshire
In response, Mr Callaghan explained that the use of a laser beam to detect parking obstructions was wholly inappropriate and largely useless.
He explained that, in any case, a parking sensor need not be programmed to jam a laser speedmeter. The Laser Star also has a list of speed cameras in its instructions and marketing that it can jam; not a property of a parking sensor.
Mr Moore also stated in his defence that the security company that he worked for insisted that employees pay for any damage caused to work vehicles. He claimed that he fitted the device to reduce the risk of damage.
Moore was found guilty by a jury and sentenced at Swansea Crown Court on October 18, 2021.
Judge Vosper QC called Moore’s explanations ‘spurious’ and said he ‘wasn’t surprised that the jury rejected his defence’.
Moore was sentenced to 32 weeks’ custody, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to pay costs and fines totalling £3,000 and a curfew was imposed for two months.
Andy Cox, detective chief superintendent with Lincolnshire Police, tweeted: ‘Great work in helping to expose this criminality. I hope it serves as a deterrence to others seeking to hide road crime. More fundamentally I hope for a change in driving culture to one which recognizes the risk speeding poses to all road users.’
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