A motocross rider who failed to stop for police and then lied that his bike had been stolen has admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Darren O’Neill was riding near Contin Forestry car park when police were called, but rode off when signalled to stop.
When police found the bike, complete with decals with O’Neill’s name on them, they questioned him.
O’Neill initially told them it had been stolen, but later admitted he had been riding.
The 20-year-old pled guilty to riding with no insurance, failing to stop and attempting to pervert the course of justice at Inverness Sheriff Court yesterday.
Fiscal depute Victoria Silver said the charges related to events on June 16 2020, when police were called to reports of motocross bikes being ridden near Contin Forestry car park.
They spotted a motocross bike coming down the hill towards them.
“An officer stood in full view and raised an arm for him to stop,” said Ms Silver.
Motorcross rider ‘failed to stop’
The court heard that the bike failed to stop, instead “travelling at full speed down the forestry road” and away from the scene.
Later that day officers discovered an orange motocross bike, with decals featuring O’Neill’s name, abandoned next to garages with no sign of the rider.
When questioned, O’Neill initially denied owning the bike, but then told them it was his but he did not know who had been riding.
“He informed the officers that he believed the bike had been stolen,” Ms Silver told the court.
Solicitor Graham Mann, for O’Neill, told the court that it was “very soon afterwards” that his client’s mother contacted the police and made arrangements for them to speak to her son again.
It was then he finally admitted riding the bike.
‘Ultimately he did come clean’
Mr Mann said: “He has dug himself into a real hole here but ultimately he did come clean.”
Sheriff David Nicolson fined O’Neill, of Cherry Drive, Conon Bridge, £320 and disqualified him from driving for 30 days.
