A COURT has been told that an 18-year-old man from Wellington got drunk, took his friend’s car without permission, sent him a Snapchat video of himself veering all over the motorway, crashed the car and ran away from the scene – and then tried to bribe his friend to drop the charges against him.
James Spiller, from Lower Westford, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, perverting the course of justice, failing to stop after an accident and driving without a driving licence or insurance when he appeared before Taunton Crown Court last week.
He also denied a dangerous driving charge which was ordered to lie on file.
William Hunter, prosecuting, said Spiller had been out with friends in the early hours of October 22 last year and had borrowed the car keys from the designated driver, saying he wanted to get something out of the car.
But when he did not reappear, the friend became concerned and went to look for him, only to find his car was missing.
“In the victim’s opinion, Spiller had been incredibly drunk, to the point that he was barely able to stand,” Mr Hunter said. “He contacted the police and while he was on the phone, he received a video from the defendant showing him weaving across the motorway.
“The caption to the video read ‘I’ve never driven on the motorway before’.”
The car later ended up in a collision, coming to a halt on its roof in the southbound carriageway of the M5 at around 2.15am.
Mr Spiller fled from the scene of the accident.
The following morning, he called his friend and told him: “My dad will give you money to drop the charges.”
The probation service told Judge David Ticehurst that the incident was extremely out of character for Spiller, and he was remorseful and ashamed of what he had done.
“He tells us he got in with a circle of friends who were heavy drinkers and he was much less experienced than they were,” she said. “He has since changed his social circle and reduced his drinking, and we consider him to be a low risk of re-offending.”
Sentencing him, Judge David Ticehurst told Spiller: “You put yourself in a ridiculous and dangerous situation. You could have killed someone and you were lucky you did not kill yourself.
“Videoing yourself at the wheel of the car was stupid and it led to you being caught. You then went on to try and pervert the course of justice – people who do that go to prison.”
But he said that having regards to his age and previously good character, he would not jail him and instead sentenced him to 200 hours of unpaid work and a curfew on Friday and Saturday nights between 7pm and 7am for six months.
He was also disqualified from driving for two years.
“All this for the sake of some stupid, drunken prank,” the judge said.