West Midlands landlady JAILED for car sticker plot to avoid speeding tickets

Samantha Keegan's Audi was clocked in May, July and September last year topping 30mph limits - but on each occasion claimed her A4 was parked on her driveway at the time of the offences.

The 33-year-old suggested speed cameras had caught another blue Audi running on cloned plates mirroring her car's registration number.

And to support her lies Keegan put stickers - including a Union Flag and a GB disc - on the rear bumper and window of her car in an attempt to try and alter its appearance.

However, the car was seized by West Midlands Police following information it was used in a robbery on 31 October last year when £7,000 in takings was stolen from the Holly Bush Inn on Penn Road, Wolverhampton, where Keegan worked.

Keegan, who also ran the Clarendon in Chapel Ash and Meadow Lark in Dudley - and who now lives in Gillingham, Dorset ? was cleared of involvement, but examination of the car showed not only had the stickers disappeared but other fine details matched those visible on the speed camera images.

She was interviewed on 28 April and given an opportunity to come clean and pay the fixed penalty notices - but continued the deception by claiming her ex-husband put the stickers on the car although claimed not to remember her former partner's name.

Investigators released her while more enquiries were carried out.

Her ex-husband was traced and signed a statement denying knowledge of the Audi ever being emblazoned with stickers - and when officers checked Keegan's phone they found incriminating text messages sent to her new partner.

One read "Yet another speeding ticket I'm gonna have to take the rap for…thanks very much" while another stated "I can't keep blagging my way out of these, I could end up in serious trouble if I'm found out."

She also told officers her car was outside her new Dorset address on September 22 when an Audi was clocked at 37mph along Stow Heath Lane in Wolverhampton.

But officers uncovered camera evidence showing it being driven on West Midlands roads between 7 September and 6 October before heading to Dorset on the M5 on October 7.

In the face of mounting evidence she finally admitted perverting the course of justice - but by that stage it was too late to avoid a court appearance.

And on Thursday at Birmingham Crown Court a judge jailed her for eight months.

PC Steve Jevons from the force's Camera Enforcement Unit, said: "We suspect Keegan was trying to protect her boyfriend: he was a banned driver, and serving a suspended prison term, and would likely have faced jail had evidence emerged he was behind the wheel.

"She clearly thought she could get the speeding fines cancelled by lying…but she dug a deeper and deeper hole, wasting increasing police time and eventually has ended up behind bars for trying to avoid justice.

"Drivers need to think long and hard about the potential consequences of lying to avoid a speeding fine and licence points. These are not 'little white lies'…courts take a dim view of people trying to deceive the authorities and there is a very real risk offenders will be jailed."

Keegan's Audi A4 was caught speeding on May 25 on the A34 Walsall Road in Landywood and on July 1 travelling at 43mph in a 30-zone on Wolverhampton Road, Kidderminster.