A West Yorkshire police officer and his wife have been warned that they face jail time after they admitted perverting the course of justice in relation to two speeding tickets.
Leeds-based PC Mark Hinchliffe, 43, who is currently suspended from the force, and his 38-year-old wife Lisa, who has already resigned from her post as a civilian staff member, pleaded guilty to the two offences when they appeared before Judge Jonathan Rose at Bradford Crown Court this morning (Wed). The charges state that they both committed acts tending or intended to pervert the course of justice by falsely declaring to West Yorkshire Police that Lisa Hinchliffe had been driving a car when it was caught exceeding a statutory speed limit.
The offences were committed in July and August last year and relate to two speeding offences from April 30 and June 1, 2021.
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Judge Rose agreed to grant the couple bail until a sentence hearing on January 25 next year so that pre-sentence reports could be prepared by the probation service.
Judge Rose said they knew that the offences were exceptionally serious. He said: "The authorities on perverting the course of justice are very clear about the gravity of such offences and the likely consequences for all offenders and not least those whose duty it is to uphold the law," he told the defendants.
He said he was granting them bail on the understanding that when they came back in January it would be with an expectation that they would receive immediate sentences of imprisonment.
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