Inamte posed as his brother

Two Wolverhampton brothers have admitted misleading police in a bid to prevent one of them being re-arrested – after he had been sent home from prison in a Home Office blunder.

Dangerous driver Mark Povey, aged 36, was mistakenly sent away from Hewell Grange open prison at Blakenhurst, Redditch, in June 2000 when he should have been transferred there from Featherstone, near Wolverhampton.

Mark Povey, pictured, who has a past conviction for killing two people in a collision, was supposed to be serving out the rest of a sentence for a later offence, of dangerous driving.

But having been turned away from prison, he spent an incredible six years enjoying his freedom and raising a family with wife Sharon.

During this time he was stopped by police while driving but gave his brother Michael's details.

Mark and 37-year-old Michael admitted perverting the course of justice before a judge at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday.

Mark Povey also admitted driving while disqualified.

The court heard how Mark Povey, formerly of Broome Road, Low Hill, had been pulled over by police in his brother's Fiat Punto in October last year. He gave Michael's details and produced false insurance documents.

Mr Timothy Pole, defending Michael Povey, of Prole Street, Park Village, told the court he had not been convicted of anything before.

Mark Povey is now serving the remainder of the sentence for dangerous driving until 2009.

In 1994, aged 24, he was at the wheel of a car being chased by police when he drove through a red light and killed 23-year-old Jason Bridgen and father-of-two Stephen Gurmin.

He served the six years for that crime and while on early release offended again and was given another four years for dangerous driving.

Mark was granted a transfer from HMP Featherstone to Hewell Grange but when he arrived at the gates with his wife, armed with transfer papers, he claims the guards said there was no record of the move and sent him home to Wolverhampton.

He claims he believed his sentence was complete. In January this year the Express & Star revealed how since being sent home from prison, Povey had fathered two children, applied for a passport and even went on foreign holidays.

Judge Nicholas Webb adjourned sentencing until December 13 for probation service reports on Michael. He was granted bail. Mark's case was also adjourned for sentencing.