AN EXPERT scientist takes his fight to overturn a speeding ticket to the High Court this week – armed with evidence he claims he got undercover.
Iain Fielden will present a taped phone conversation in which he posed as a lawyer as his key evidence in the case on Friday.
Dr Fielden is refusing to drop attempts to clear his wife’s name in a case that dates back three years and has already landed the couple with a £15,000 court bill.
Vikki Fielden received a £60 fixed penalty notice after she was clocked by a camera driving at 36mph in a 30mph zone at New Mill Road in Brockholes on June 4, 2006.
The Sheffield couple were returning home after visiting friends.
But Dr Fielden, a research scientist at Sheffield Hallam University, believed the camera could not have recorded an accurate reading because it was situated on a bend in the road.
The Fieldens refused to pay the fine and were handed a £100 fine and £200 costs when the case was heard by Huddersfield magistrates.
They then appealed that decision in a protracted case at Bradford Crown Court.
Representing his wife in court last June, Dr Fielden argued that radar beams travel in a straight line, so using radar to measure the speed of a car on a curve would not work.
However, the judge, Recorder James Hill QC, dismissed the appeal and ordered the couple to pay £15,000 in court costs.
He gave them six months to pay.
But Dr Fielden is still refusing to back down.
On Friday he will seek permission for a full review of the case at High Court.
As part of his evidence, he claims to have obtained a recording of a conversation he had with a key witness in the case against his wife.
During the conversation, he pretended to be a lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service wanting to double-check the technical details of the case.
Dr Fielden claims the recording proves that evidence presented during the case was untrue.
