159mph cop back in court

A policeman convicted of dangerous driving after clocking up speeds of up to 159mph has won a High Court bid to overturn his conviction.

Pc Mark Milton was found guilty last August (2006) at a second trial which was only held as a result of his original acquittal being overturned by the High Court.

Milton, from Shropshire, said at his first trial he had simply been trying to “familiarise” himself with a new car.

He told magistrates he had taken out a new Vauxhall Vectra to assess it.

District Judge, Peter Wallis, sitting at Ludlow Magistrates’ Court, found him guilty after ruling his expertise as an advanced police driver was “irrelevant” to driving dangerously.

Judges sitting at the High Court last week decided the district judge had “misdirected himself”.

They sent the case back to Judge Peter Wallis to decide if “Pc Milton’s unusual driving skills were such as to make a crucial difference to the dangerousness of his driving”.

Lady Justice Smith said: “It seems to me that this matter is of considerable importance to both sides of the dispute.”