A model who admitted speeding has been cleared of wrongdoing after she wept in court and claimed she was gaslighted by her boyfriend into believing she was the driver.
Armani Whitehouse, 23, had initially confessed to being behind the wheel of a Seat Altea which was clocked driving at 62mph on a 50mph stretch of a motorway.
But after she was offered a speed awareness course, she failed to attend it – and instead appeared before JPs in tears to say she was not in fact the driver of the Seat which is a registered in the name of her unnamed boyfriend.
WHAT ARMANI SAID
During an emotional courtroom plea to reopen the case, Whitehouse said she had ‘mental health issues’ and had been ‘coerced’ to name herself as the driver.
She said she only took the blame as her boyfriend ‘made her believe’ she was driving at the time.
Wirral magistrates on Merseyside agreed to reopen the case before dismissing the charge against her. It was not disclosed whether the boyfriend would be now be accused of speeding. The couple have now split up.
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COURT HEARD
The court heard the car was clocked by a speed camera on January 8 this year while being driven Westbound along the M62 near Liverpool.
Prosecutor Iain Jones said: ‘A section 172 notice requesting the driver’s details was sent to the registered keeper. Miss Whitehouse was nominated as the driver in the return notice, saying that she was the driver at the time.
‘She was offered the speed awareness course. She did not attend and she was contacted by the safer roads unit and she asked for more time.’
