A GRIEF-STRICKEN man who tried to avoid speeding fines by using his dead wife’s name has narrowly avoided an immediate prison sentence.

But Judge Peter Benson said he had “grave misgivings” about suspending Christopher Bingley’s six-month jail term.

He told Bradford Crown Court he was persuaded not to lock him up because of the impact it would have on his young daughter.

Bingley, 44, admitted three charges of acts intended to pervert the course of justice but Judge Benson rejected his claims to have been acting in a state of confusion.

The judge highlighted Bingley’s previous convictions which included offences of driving while over the limit and driving while banned more than a decade ago.

“Each of these acts involved you forging details and that was a deliberate course of conduct and I don’t accept that it was out of confusion,” the judge told Bingley.

“And it’s set against, albeit some time ago, your background of ignoring road traffic laws. It seems to me these were deliberate attempts to avoid the consequences of speeding.”

The judge said what weighed most heavily with him was the situation of Bingley’s daughter and he was just persuaded to suspended the jail term for two years.

As part of the suspended sentence order Bingley will be subject to a four-month electronically-monitored home curfew between 7pm and 6am.

He was also banned from driving for nine months.

The court heard yesterday that Bingley was acting on “auto-pilot” when he repeatedly filled in speeding notices sent out in his dead wife Joanne’s name.

In fact Bingley, who had previous convictions for motoring offences, had been behind the wheel of his wife’s Jeep Cherokee when he was caught speeding on four occasions between August 2010 and April 2011.