Thursday 6 September 2007

Stupid Criminal of the Day

A medical salesman who fooled magistrates into believing he was a doctor attending an emergency call to get himself off a speeding charge was caught after billing the court for compensation.

Mohammed Chiang, 26, who has no medical training, was caught on camera travelling at 38mph in a 30mph zone in Southampton city centre.

He had a green light on top of his car. After convincing Southampton magistrates that he was attending an emergency call, he was given an absolute discharge.

His costs were paid through central funds.
So far, so good, at least for the fraudulent "Dr" Chiang. Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately), he then got a little bit greedy:

But instead of keeping a low profile, Chiang applied for £1,162.80 costs to cover the employment of an imaginary locum doctor for the day he was in court.

Staff at the Safer Roads Partnership investigation team in Hampshire became suspicious when his application was littered with spelling mistakes and his name could not be found on the medical register.

They found that although he was not a doctor he used notepaper that identified him as a doctor and drove a car with a “doctor on call” notice on the back and a green light on the roof.

The car also contained a defibrillator and a fluorescent jacket with "Doctor" on it.

Chiang, who, according to the Mail on Sunday, turned down the option of a fixed fine in order to have his day in court, now faces prison after pleading guilty to deception, and perverting the course of justice. I suppose it just goes to show: crime may pay, but stupidity generally doesn't.

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