In 2006 an eminent Australian judge, Marcus Einfield, was caught on speed cameras driving his silver Lexus at 6 mph over the speed limit. Unbelievably, this fairly minor offence led to a two year prison sentence. Read on. The 70 year old, semi-retired judge, possibly the mostly highly regarded in Australia, could hardly be described as a boy racer. He was originally accused of an offence that would have meant a fine of about £36 and had he of come clean and admitted his guilt that would have been the end of the matter. However, inexplicably, the judge decided to try and lie his way out of the conviction. He claimed that on the day in question he had lent the car to an American friend, Professor Theresa Brennan. Satisfied, the magistrates dismissed the case and the judge walked free. A newspaper took up the story and decided to trace Professor Brennan, only to find that at the time of the speeding incident, she had already been dead for three years. The judge then dug an even bigger hole for himself by claiming he had meant a different Theresa Brennan. When this was disproved also, he claimed that on the day in question he had been driving his 94 year old mother's Toyota Corolla, so he couldn't have been at the wheel of the silver Lexus. Alas, there was security camera footage that proved the Toyota Corolla had remained in the garage all day. For the sake of holding his hands up and paying a paltry fine the judge has now been charged with committing perjury. This case is both tragic an farcical at the same time, ruining the reputation of one of Australia's finest judges for a trivial motoring offence that carried a possible £36 fine.
