The North Yorkshire Police on Monday proudly tweeted the photo of a man who had just begun an eight-month jail term for “perverting the course of justice.”
While it seems some people thought he had been jailed for flipping off a traffic camera, it turns out 67-year-old Timothy Hill had lied about having a laser jammer attached to his car.
Top tip: If you want to stay out of trouble, don't do what this driver did and swear at our mobile safety cameras while driving past in a car fitted with a laser jammer. Today he's beginning 8 months in jail for perverting the course of justice. https://t.co/Y5jpeOlt96 pic.twitter.com/rKQRVgNkB1
— North Yorkshire Police (@NYorksPolice) April 23, 2018
Police wrote on their website as a warning to others who might similarly pervert justice:
The judge who jailed Hill said such actions “strike at the heart” of the justice system and his sentence must act as a deterrent to others.
Traffic Constable Andrew Forth, who led the investigation for North Yorkshire Police, said afterward: “If you want to attract our attention, repeatedly gesturing at police camera vans with your middle finger while you’re driving a distinctive car fitted with a laser jammer is an excellent way to do it.
“It’s also an excellent way to end up in prison. As Hill’s case shows, perverting the course of justice is a very serious charge which carries a custodial sentence.”
Eight months in jail for jamming the speed detection system? EIGHT MONTHS??? https://t.co/gWUMcrkx3N
— Mo Mo (@molratty) April 24, 2018
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Oh. He swore, and had a laser jammer. By all means, 8 months in jail. https://t.co/wBATyF9y0m
— Bryan Suits (Not California Compliant) (@darksecretplace) April 23, 2018
UK: The World’s Newest Authoritarian Hell https://t.co/f3169Px2Ci
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) April 24, 2018
Thank goodness this sick monster is being put behind bars https://t.co/hy4h1GdJk3
— Spencer Brock (@spencer_brock_) April 24, 2018
With this dangerously sassy old thug off the streets all your crime is sure to go away. https://t.co/Cobm6B8ia1
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) April 24, 2018
Thank God you guys got this scofflaw off the streets. We can't have people going around flipping off inanimate objects. Unreal. https://t.co/wFyXq0zobm
— Eric Spencer (@JustEric) April 24, 2018
This is why we broke up with you and made our own country https://t.co/kGU0ZDfuJY
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair (@senatorshoshana) April 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/NoahPollak/status/988598013709832192
Are you serious? What happened to the UK? https://t.co/7EoT2Mr5iK
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) April 24, 2018
When England isn't busy murdering kids through the NHS, it's jailing citizens for using radar jammers and middle fingers. https://t.co/LV8yXpIGZD
— Anthony Abides (@AnthonyAbides) April 24, 2018
When you break up with a guy over 200 years ago because he was a dick and then he shows off how much of a dick he is and you're glad you have your own country now https://t.co/kGU0ZDfuJY
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair (@senatorshoshana) April 24, 2018
Thank God we won that war. https://t.co/kuu4PuAhlz
— Chris Hynes (@realchrishynes) April 24, 2018
Top tip to the UK government authorities: a little less Neville Chamberlain, a little more Winston Churchill. https://t.co/IXv0Eg8tZ8
— Courtney Kirchoff (@Courtneyscoffs) April 24, 2018
This is what Orwell was talking about. England is a parody of reality at this point. https://t.co/UoeHrwoGxR
— Lone Conservative (@LoConservative) April 24, 2018
Sign that you're considered an international joke, part 1,584,301: https://t.co/arZubkH3Q0
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) April 24, 2018
Fascist cowards https://t.co/gGrhhRSvP3
— Currently between fraudulent suspensions (@jtLOL) April 24, 2018
Justice in the dictionary: The administering of deserved punishment or reward.
Justice in North Yorkshire: https://t.co/HWF0JjffxM
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) April 24, 2018
Is every British police Twitter account run by smug fascists, or just the ones retweeted into my timeline? https://t.co/YcoSlHfmuD
— Kyle Sammin (@KyleSammin) April 24, 2018
Meanwhile, knife crime and acid attacks are going through the roof https://t.co/l7GRRIve08
— Christopher James (@ChrisLXXXVI) April 24, 2018
Are you bragging about wasting resources to imprison a man because he offended your sensibilities? Cops are the biggest babies. Absolute garbage. https://t.co/cvj0n9q0dU
— Ryan Metzger (@platymo) April 24, 2018
Michael Brendan Dougherty pointed out to me that police in the U.K. spend all their time on Twitter threatening people with jail time for frivolous things, and now I can’t stop seeing it. https://t.co/YRrC8U0QkU
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) April 24, 2018
Jaysus, 8 months in prison for this kind of asshattery and the police trumpet their success on twitter? Sheesh. https://t.co/fRVVGo2gDJ
— Ciarán Handley ❄️ (@ciaranhandley) April 23, 2018
Serving any jail time would be embarrassing. Making that man spend 8 month in jail is a damn disgrace. What do the British hate free speech and worse yet why would a police department tweet this? It’s pathetic. What a joke. https://t.co/y9ckQYDpey
— Mr. Miller (@JmeMiller1974) April 24, 2018
I vehemently disagree with, but can still entertain consequentialist arguments for punishing victimless crimes (e.g. laser jamming). Even still, everyone should find it repulsive to see enforcers celebrating such punishment with smugness and glee. https://t.co/N1OtFG4teL
— Rachel Hodder (@Rachelhodder) April 24, 2018
Top tip: If you want to be respected by the citizenry you serve and protect, don't write flippant tweets suggesting lawbreakers who also piss you off are prosecuted and sentenced more aggressively than lawbreakers who don't. https://t.co/UThsMGtJ2c
— Matt Jameson (@RogueNotary) April 24, 2018
how are you not a parody account? https://t.co/yOBJQy3g9d
— boop (@nicocchin) April 24, 2018
A functioning human being has to have the idea to post this and think the rest of the world wouldn't laugh at them for posting it. https://t.co/tlsyF9rU4v
— Eccentric Drunk (@eccentricdrunk) April 24, 2018
Related:
OMG: Take a look at these 'weapons' found by British police during a sweep https://t.co/XeB9CPaCA8
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 9, 2018
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