Chberei, Montazar

Montazar Chberei was convicted of speeding by Harrow Magistrates’ Court on 24th March 2010. He was fined £350, ordered to pay £100 costs and had his driving license endorsed with six penalty points.

The police had stopped a motorist for speeding and the driver had given his details as Montazar Chberei.

When Mr Chberei failed to pay the fixed penalty, a summons was issued. When he failed to respond, or attend court, he was convicted in his absence.

When he eventually learned that he had been convicted in his absence, Mr Chberei sought to appeal against his conviction in the Crown Court at Harrow.

He argued it was a case of mistaken identity because he had not been the driver of the car in question and he have never owned or driven the vehicle. The appeal was dismissed.

Mr Chberei applied to the CCRC in August 2010 and in January 2011 informed the CCRC that he believed that the driver on the day in question had been another individual who was known to him.

The CCRC investigated the case and decided to refer the conviction to the Crown Court because it considered that new evidence that another individual sought, on various occasions, to pass himself off to the police as Mr Chberei raised a real possibility that Mr Chberei’s conviction would not be upheld on a rehearing in the Crown Court.

The CCRC referred the conviction in March 2012.

The Crown Court quashed the conviction in May 2012.