By Colin Crummy
Two Wolverhampton Express & Star journalists have helped jail a kerb crawler when they caught him driving away from court minutes after being banned from the roads.
Reporter Sally Taylor and a photographer, who wishes not to be named, were covering the case of James Knowles, who had been convicted of picking up a well-known prostitute in the city’s vice district and given a two-month driving ban.
Taylor was waiting for her photographer to arrive when she saw 30-year-old Knowles get into the driver’s seat of a removals van and pull past the entrance to Wolverhampton Magistrates Court after his conviction.
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The reporter called the photographer, who gave chase and snapped Knowles at city centre traffic lights.
Knowles pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified after the two journalists arrived to give evidence at the same court. He was sentenced to four months in jail and disqualified from driving for a year.
Sgt Jon Jackson of the Wolver-hampton road policing unit, in a letter of thanks to editor Adrian Faber, said: “Without the public spiritedness of Sally and [the photographer], this person would not have subsequently been convicted and sent to prison. Both employees are a credit to your organisation.”
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Taylor said: “It was really a case of being in the right place at the right time when we caught him. He pleaded guilty at the 11th hour. We weren’t really looking forward to having to testify and it was quite strange to be on the other side, quite nerve racking.”
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