Robert Brian Stone, 47, admitted three counts of using a motor vehicle without insurance and three of not have a driving licence when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court from custody. Stone, who grew up in Guernsey and now lives in France, told police that he knew he did not have insurance and said he had no intention of getting any.
Jailing him for a total of six months, Judge Gary Perry told Stone he had ‘no regard for the laws of the island’.
The court heard that in September this year the defendant’s black Mazda was seen to exit Cour du Parc, St Peter Port, and turn onto La Rue du Pre.
Three days later, police were called to Vazon following reports of the way that the same vehicle was being driven. Officers found it in the road with the headlights on and Stone emerged from a nearby property and confirmed he was the driver. Three weeks later, he drove the same car into the yard at the police station. Stone admitted that it was him who had been seen on CCTV driving out of Cour du Parc.
The first offence was committed within days of him completing a one-year driving ban that was imposed in August 2024 for using a motor vehicle without insurance.
Defending, Advocate Sam Maindonald said her client had wasted nobody’s time with his early guilty pleas. He had applied for a driving licence but could not afford to pay for it on collection, and because he had no driving licence he could not get insurance. At the end of September he had driven to the police station to report a matter involving his social media account and he had no funds.
Judge Perry said it beggared belief that the defendant had driving to the police station knowing he had no insurance and he had no regard for the laws of the island. Prison sentences of two months, consecutive were imposed on each count of driving without insurance, and his licence was suspended for three years.
There were no separate penalties for not having a licence.
Given the penalties he had just imposed, Judge Perry said he would not accede to the prosecution’s application that Stone should be made to forfeit his car.
