A CARLISLE motorist who failed to overturn a speeding conviction has been left with a hefty legal bill – and a judge's stinging criticism. 

At his trial, 34-year-old Craig Brass denied speeding in his Audi A6 along a stretch of dual carriageway on the A590 in south Cumbria between Witherslack and the Meathop roundabout in October 2022.

Police clocked his speed over a half mile distance as 90mph, well above the road's 70mph limit. He was found guilty and given a fine and costs of £130 and three points.

But at Carlisle Crown Court, the defendant, of Delagoa Street, Carlisle, conducted his own appeal, seeking to overturn the conviction.

During the hearing, he produced documents which he said he had extracted from his car’s GPS tracking device and which, he told the court, proved his speed was 71.8mph.

The court heard that at one point during the process, the defendant threatened to hire the famous motoring law expert Nick Freeman, known as 'Mr Loophole'.

Brass challenged the evidence of the two police officers who testified against him, suggesting that their patrol car’s speed measuring device was incorrectly calibrated, producing an inaccurate measurement.

As part of the prosecution response to the appeal, prosecutors commissioned an expert report to rebut Brass's claims.

But after hearing evidence with two magistrates, Judge Nicholas Barker delivered a damning judgement, telling Brass his appeal had failed on multiple grounds.

The judge said he and his colleagues accepted the police device, calibrated for measuring speed, was not properly corrected by the user when it indicated 90 mph.

With calibration properly applied, the defendant’s Audi was found to be travelling at 85mph, not 90mph.

But addressing the GPS tracker data provided by Brass, the judge noted that he failed to provide the device to the police, despite being asked for it.

It was not credible, said Judge Barker, that the very section of road where the Audi was seen speeding was missing from the defendant’s analysis.

There was a “strong suspicion,” continued the judge, that Brass "deselected" the information relating to that 1,500 metre section of road “to hide the true facts”.

“If that is right,” said the judge, “then it’s a deliberate deceit of the court. If it is right, it would be an act of attempting to pervert the course of justice.”

If this suspicion was correct, continued the judge, the defendant had deliberately doctored material put before the court for the purpose of "evading" a conviction and this would be a very serious matter.

Judge  Barker added: “We are satisfied that the police constables… are credible witnesses and satisfied that they have given credible and reliable evidence; we are satisfied Mr Brass was exceeding the speed limit on this occasion by speeding at not less than 85mph.

“Therefore, the appeal is refused, and the conviction remains.”

Judge Barker ruled that the defendant must pay costs of £2,000, telling him he was “fortunate” the prosecution settled on what was a “modest” claim.