Drink driver who asked friend to take the blame jailed (From Haringey Independent)

Drink driver Jamie Macklin who asked friend to take the blame after New Southgate accident jailed

11:13am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in News By David Hardiman

A drunk driver involved in an accident in New Southgate last year who tried to get his friend to take the blame has been jailed.

Jamie Macklin, 25, of Hillary Rise, Barnet, had an accident with a lorry in his mother’s black Ford Focus in North Circular Road at the junction with Colney Hatch Lane on March 5, 2011.

Police arrested Macklin at the scene for drink driving and tests showed he was double the legal limit, but when interviewed at a police station he claimed his friend had been driving the car.

He then phoned his friend and asked him to take the blame – but the man told police what Macklin had asked him to do.

At Wood Green Crown Court on Monday, Macklin was jailed for two years for perverting the course of justice in a second trial, after a previous jury could not agree a verdict.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years for drink driving, to begin after he is released from prison.

Investigating officer PC Stuart Morrison, of Barnet Police, said the sentence should serve as a “warning to those who seek to lie and put the blame elsewhere”.