A dad who took the rap when his son had a car accident was spared an immediate prison sentence.
Steven Titmuss, 66, sent back an official form to Thames Valley Police saying that he was the one behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Zafira that rear-ended a grey Dacia at the turning onto the A420 from Great Coxwell on March 30 last year.
That lie was immediately undermined by a picture taken at the scene by the driver of the struck car. It showed it was a fresh faced youngster who had driven the Zafira – and not a middle-aged man.
Oxford Crown Court heard he had been given an opportunity to correct the lies he had included on the police’s notice of intended prosecution last April.
A civilian investigator emailed Titmuss at the end of the month, four weeks after the crash, to ask whether the information on the form was accurate.
Prosecutor Jonathan Stone said: “A fairly specific question and a fairly specific answer came: ‘Yes, the forms I returned were accurate.’”
But they were not accurate in two respects, Judge Maria Lamb was told.
First, he had put his wife’s birth date rather than his own. Second, and more significantly, he lied about who was the driver.
The police investigator fired a shot across Titmuss’ bow. He explained that he had a photograph showing the driver who crashed into the Dacia and who waited at the scene.
“The male driver in the photographs is around 20,” he said. Titmuss was warned against saying anything further as the matter was being investigated.
Invited for an interview at the police station in May, the defendant admitted what he had done.
He had been at work in Reading when he received a panicked call from his son, saying he had been in a crash. When the notice of intended prosecution arrived on the doormat, he had filled it in with his own details as the driver and posted it back.
“Why did you do this? [The police asked]. The $64,000 question, really,” Mr Stone summarised from the police interview.
“‘Well, one lie led to another. I did it to protect Harry. I thought I would get away with it. It was only a minor collision.’”
Titmuss, of Wick Green, Grove, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. His son, Harry, was prosecuted for aggravated vehicle taking and given 80 hours of unpaid work by the magistrates in April and banned from driving for 12 months.
Judge Lamb sentenced the father to six months’ imprisonment suspended for a year-and-a-half with 200 hours of unpaid work and up to 15 probation sessions.
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
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