A teenager released just days after being jailed for driving at three times the speed limit should never have been locked up, his solicitor claimed last night.
 Ghulam Sohail said the magistrates had meted out local justice by sentencing James Green (18) to three months in prison after he admitted driving at 116mph in a 40mph zone. The lawyer was speaking after a successful appeal to have his clients sentence quashed at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday. The teenager had been sent to a young offenders institution by Halesowen magistrates after he admitted dangerous driving last week. But Mr Sohail, a partner at Challinors solicitors, argued they had not taken enough account of mitigating circumstances in the case. Mr Sohail told The Post: Lay magistrates tend to hail from the local area they are sitting in and it is possible for them to be more subjective than a judge is. Maybe in this case there was a degree of local justice being meted out. I think they looked at the speed involved alone and did not take into account other mitigating factors. He said Mr Greens appeal was launched on the grounds that the Halesowen magistrates had started from a point where custody was the only possible option. He is under 21, it was first offence, he pleaded guilty and co-operated with the police right from the start so he didnt waste their time. There are other personal things in this kids life that meant the sentence was too heavy. Last week, the Halesowen court had been told Green, a forklift truck driver, had borrowed his fathers VW Golf 2.8 litre VR6. He was driving along a dual carriageway in a built-up area last July when he was clocked by police driving at 116mph in a 40 mph zone - almost three times the speed limit. The speed trap had been set up by police on the road in Quarry Bank, near Dudley, after they had received numerous complaints about speeding cars. Green, of Hockley Lane, Netherton, Dudley, was dis-qualified from driving for 18 months by the Halesowen magistrates and that ban still stands. At Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday, Recorder Peter Joyce ruled Green should instead carry out 100 hours community punishment and also serve a one-year community rehabilitation order. The judge told Green he had not been let off by the court and that the new orders meant he would recall for a lot longer the seriousness of his speeding offence. You have served a week in custody and we are satisfied that has been a sharp learning experience, he added. After the case, Green admitted he was delighted the Crown Court had overturned the sentence imposed by the magistrates. I want the opportunity now to get on with my life and put this shameful episode behind me. Malcolm Fowler, of the law reform board of the Law Society, said: On the face of it the magistrate was wrong in the first place and it is right that the injustice has been corrected. It is a pity it had to get that far. Road safety campaigners condemned the quashing of the jail term. Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Edgbaston-based Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: In our view, the courts need to demonstrate that life threatening and irresponsible behaviour on our roads will be dealt with as seriously as possible. | 
