Biker is jailed for speeding at record 157mph is jailed

A motorcyclist caught riding at 157mph, the highest speed recorded by police on a British road, was jailed for 28 days yesterday.

Andrew Osborne, 29, of Lighthorne Heath, Leamington Spa, was overtaking a lorry on his 1200cc Kawasaki on the A412 Tingewick bypass near Buckingham in March.

He was just ahead of his friend Neil Bolger, also 29, who was riding his 750cc Kawasaki at 148mph. Bolger, from Stratford-upon-Avon, was also jailed for 28 days when the two men appeared at Aylesbury magistrates' court yesterday.

The two vehicle technicians who work for the same company had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at an earlier hearing, for which the maximum penalty is six months' imprisonment.

Darren Rogers, for Osborne, said his client was "hugely remorseful" and had written an article for a motorcycling magazine saying that his actions were "not big and not clever".

David Thomas, chairman of the bench, told Osborne and Bolger that they would only serve half of their sentence in prison and that the rest would be suspended.

"This is clearly a unique offence," Mr Thomas said. "It is an example of unprecedented, excessive speed on our roads at great risk to others. The only mitigating factor is that is appears to be a single incident.''

The men were also each disqualified from driving for two years and told they would have to take an extended re-test before they could drive again.

The court was told a police camera technician using a laser speed gun attached to a camera saw Osborne's bike leaning heavily as it overtook a lorry on a sweeping left-hand bend. Almost immediately after that he saw another large motorcycle ridden by Bolger overtake the same lorry.

Mr Rogers said that Osborne's "grossly excessive" speed was just a short burst to overtake a lorry. He insisted that he had not been racing with Bolger. The court was told that both men had since sold their motorcycles.