Daily Mail - 19.08.2019

Page  QQQ Daily Mail, Monday, August 19, 2019

Driving ban TV

host who failed

his breath test

blames asthma

TV host Martin

Roberts has failed

to get his convic-

tion for not provid-

ing a breath speci-

men overturned

• despite blaming
  his asthma.
  Roberts, 56, pic-
  tured, who presents
  the BBC’s Homes
  Under The Ham-
  mer, was arrested
  on suspicion of driving under the influ-
  ence of alcohol in Bath last November.
  He denied failing to provide a specimen
  of breath, but in March magistrates in
  Bath convicted him, fining him £3,461 and
  banning him from driving for 23 months.
  Roberts, who has also appeared on I’m A
  Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, said he
  was unable to provide a breath specimen
  because of his chronic asthma, and said
  that he tried several times to give one.
  But police accused him of sucking rather
  than blowing and, after one successful
  test which showed him to be almost twice
  the limit, they charged him. Roberts
  maintains the reading could have been
  contaminated by his asthma inhaler.
  He failed to have his conviction and sen-
  tence overturned at Bristol Crown Court.
  Recorder Noel Casey said: ‘We accept the
  appellant suffers from asthma but not to
  an extent much greater than many
  other sufferers.’

BORIS Johnson has been urged to keep his

promises after a report suggested the

North is due to get almost £2,400 less spent

per person on transport than London.

Research by a think-tank claims the

capital will get £3,636 per person and

the North just £1,247 – unless investment

in the much-vaunted Northern Power-

house gets the go-ahead. The figure for

some areas, including Yorkshire and the

Humber or the North East, is seven times

less than the capital. Luke Raikes, of the

Institute for Public Policy Research, said:

‘The Prime Minister must urgently follow

through on his promises to invest in

northern transport infrastructure.’

A Government spokesman said: ‘We’re

spending more on transport per person

in the North than anywhere else.’

‘£2.4k North-South

divide’ in transport

spending blasted

Mother’s heartrending tribute

to officer mown down on duty

THe heartbroken family of
murdered PC Andrew Harper

said yesterday ‘we will never

recover’ as they paid tribute to

the heroic officer run over when

he responded to a burglary.
A handwritten message saying
‘Sleep tight sweetheart’ was
attached to a bouquet of chrysan-
themums at the police cordon
close to where his life ebbed away.
It was claimed yesterday that the
newlywed officer, 28, was following a
GPS tracker from a stolen quad bike
when he was mown down by a getaway
vehicle and dragged to his death.
PC Harper suffered devastating inju-
ries when he was hit while responding
to a raid at a Victorian country house
in the village of Bradfield Southend,
near Reading, on Thursday.
It is thought that the officer was fol-
lowing the tracker when he came
across the suspected thieves at a
crossroads and left his vehicle to chal- Moving: Tribute near police cordon

By Rebecca Camber, Josh White

and Andy Dolan

lenge them at around 11.30pm.
His distraught mother Debo-
rah yesterday posted a photo-
graph on Facebook of herself
with her son at his wedding,
with a thin blue line superim-
posed across the image in sup-
port of police officers.
Wellwishers have donated
£100,000 to support his widow
Lissie, 28 – who he married just
four weeks ago. They were due
to go on honeymoon this week.
Along with the floral tribute at
the roadside, his family left
epaulettes in a plastic tub, along
with a wedding photograph of
him with his bride.
Their message read: ‘We will
never recover – our darling
Andrew. You will never feel pain
of growing old or a broken heart.
‘I feel your presence comfort-
ing me in my darkest hours and

minutes and know there’s

enough to share with all those

who love and need you right

now. Sleep tight sweetheart.

See you one day.’

It ended: ‘Forever loving Mum,

Phil, Sean and Amelia.’

It emerged that the victim of

the burglary had installed a

GPS tracker on his quad bike as

whereabouts were unknown

amid concerns for his safety.

Detectives have been granted

extra time to question ten men,

aged between 13 and 30, who

were arrested at the Four

Houses Corner caravan park,

near Burghfield Common, on

suspicion of murder within an

hour of PC Harper’s death.

Yesterday police were still

searching the travellers site

where the arrests were made,

three miles from the scene.

A police spokesman said the

quad bike had been recovered.

One local said: ‘The guy looked

out of the window and saw it

disappearing down the road so

he called the police, they located

it on its tracker.

‘That’s how they met them at

the Ufton Lane, I suppose to try

and cut them off, but it obvi-

ously all went terribly wrong.’

Thames Valley Police refused

to elaborate on reports that PC

Harper’s body was struck by

another police vehicle.

A spokesman said his injuries

were caused when he was

caught under the ‘suspect vehi-

cle’. The Independent Office for

Police Conduct confirmed that

it was not investigating.

n The Home Secretary came

under pressure last night to

impose stiffer sentences on

thugs who assault police.

Priti Patel said the safety of

officers would be her ‘first prior-

ity’. John Apter, chairman of the

Police Federation, said: ‘Officers

who have been attacked just for

doing their jobs have been let

down by the system.’

‘It all went

terribly wrong’

a precaution because his prop-

erty was being renovated.

Locals said the homeowner,

who the Mail is not naming, had

phoned police after looking out

of his window to see the bike

being driven away. They said he

was ‘bearing up’ although his

Beloved: PC

Harper with

bride Lissie

only four

weeks ago

Sleep tight

sweetheart

PUGH IS AWAY