IT was an unhappy birthday for Colin Green who began a custodial sentence on the day of his 54th birthday, after being convicted of motoring offences at Liskeard Magistrates' Court. Green, from Brighton, was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment after pleading guilty to driving without insurance, driving while disqualified and obstructing a police officer after being stopped on the A38 near Bodmin in the early hours of Sunday morning. Green was travelling with his friend, also from Brighton, her sick child and another adult friend from Saltash to Hayle when police stopped the blue Vauxhall Corsa, which was said to have been swerving in the road. When asked by officers, Green gave the false name Alex Windsor, and said that he had no insurance and just an international driving licence. It was only when Green was arrested and taken into custody that his true identity was revealed. The prosecution told the magistrates that, when asked why he had given the false name, Green had replied: 'If a fish doesn't want to be caught, he keeps his mouth shut.' Green told the court he had originally been a passenger in the car, which was travelling to Hayle to attend his friend's family emergency. However, the car ran out of fuel in Plymouth and, after three hours searching for a place to fill up, the driver said he felt too tired to drive. The group, however, managed to refuel and Green, who was disqualified from driving in September 2007 following a series of motoring offences in Brighton, decided to continue the journey from Saltash as the driver to allow his friend to rest. He told the court: 'I was only trying to help.' Liskeard Magistrates handed Green – who made prayer- like gestures to the bench – a four-month sentence, combined with an extra four months of a suspended sentence from a previous conviction.
