I Spent two Days in Police Cells Over a Speeding Offence

Daily Mail, Wednesday, November 16, 2005
By Dan Parkinson

When Michelle Keating was pulled over for a routine police check she expected nothing more than a two minute delay. But officers said there was a warrant for her arrest – and bundled her into the back of their car.

She ended up in solitary confinement in a police cell before being driven 450 miles, locked up overnight again – and then made to appear in court handcuffed to a guard.

Her crime? A minor speeding offence committed 14 months previously which she admitted in writing at the time but heard nothing more about until her arrest because police had later written to the wrong address.

The case was thrown out of court and Mrs Keating, a 43-year-old mother of four, was left with a clean driving licence. Last night she called the police's actions ‘ludicrous' and said she was considering legal action.

“All I did was commit a speeding offence, which I admitted at the time – it's not as if I'm a terrorist,” she said. “It's disgusting that this can happen to someone like myself. My treatment by one or two of the officers was appalling. The whole episode was outrageous. It should have been apparent what my situation was and it could have been sorted out very quickly instead of putting me through this hellish ordeal.”

Mrs Keating, who runs an aviation business with her husband, Christopher, 42, was caught driving at 100mph on the M180 in North Lincolnshire in September 2004.

She was driving her husband, who is a helicopter pilot, to Humberside airport from their home in Aberdeenshire.

She later received notice of her offence in the post and wrote back the same day confirming she was behind the wheel and waited to hear from Humberside police.

But she never received a court summons and believed the charge must have been dropped. Then last Thursday she was stopped during routine police roadside checks and told an outstanding warrant for her arrest had been issued by magistrates in Scunthorpe.

Mrs Keating was taken to a police station in Aberdeen where she was put in solitary confinement and her personal effects removed. The next day she was transferred to Scunthorpe and kept there in cells before appearing in court the following morning.

She said: “I was just thrown into a cell with a bench covered by a blue plastic mat for a bed. It was disgusting. I was arrested at 2pm on the Thursday and only given a bowl of cornflakes on Friday morning in my cell. I had a couple of mouthfuls and it actually made me sick.

“It wasn't nice because the toilet was in the cell as well. Officers turned up with some sausage rolls and greasy chips for lunch but I couldn't face it.”

When Mrs Keating appeared in court prosecutor Andrew Horner confirmed she had been found guilty of speeding in her absence then withdrew the case. He said: “I have to take into account everything that has happened to Mrs Keating and I do not think it is in the public interest to proceed.” The summons and letters presented in court had all been returned and marked ‘unknown at this address.'

Mrs Keating and her husband moved home to a nearby village with their children Natasha, 23, Daniel, 17, Jamie, 13, and India, ten, two months after the offence but re-registered their car to the new address and arranged for all mail to be forwarded.

Mr Keating said: “The police cannot have tried very hard to find us.” He added: “I was allowed just five minutes with her in the cell and my wife was distraught and in tears. The final insult was when she had to appear in the dock at Scunthorpe in handcuffs.” Humberside Police refused to comment last night.