Porsche-driving Dartford businessman caught doing almost 150mph on M25

9:56am Monday 21st January 2013 in News By Sam Christie

Sheriff Moftah outside Maidstone Crown Court Sheriff Moftah outside Maidstone Crown Court

A DARTFORD car dealer clocked speeding at 146mph in his Porsche 911, then lied to police, has been banned from driving for three months.

Sheriff Moftah, of Old Yews, Longfield, was caught travelling at more than double the speed limit on the M25 between Dartford and Swanley.

The 26-year-old falsely reported his personalised number plates – S15 MOF – had been stolen in Swanley and wrongly claimed he was the passenger in the car clocked doing 146.5mph.

Moftah, who runs Keyline Cars Ltd with a turnover of around £1 million a year, falsely declared Kwarme Frimpong from France had taken it for a test drive.

Appearing at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday (Jan 18), Moftah pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and speeding.

Simon Butler, mitigating, said: "He panicked and took the wrong advice from friends.

"He was embarrassed; he felt he was going to lose his business which he put so much time in since he graduated."

The sports car had been caught by the speed camera between junction two and three of the M25 shortly after 12.20am on July 5 last year.

Martin Yale, prosecuting, told the court: "The following morning, perhaps suspecting he was caught, Mr Moftah telephoned Kent Police to report his number plates had been stolen from an address in Swanley."

He then filled in a police form to say Mr Frimpong was driving the speeding Porcshe.

But two months later Moftah, who set up his East Hill-based company after graduating from university, contacted police to confess his crime.

"He did not want to dig a deeper hole and was ready to face the consequences," said Mr Yale.

Sheriff’s dad Farid, an orthopaedic surgeon and clinical director at Darent Valley Hospital, explained the impact on the Moftah family.

"He’s always been very hardworking, responsible and honest. He’s never caused us problems apart from in this instant," he told the court.

"He’s suffered a lot. He’s not been sleeping, he’s remorseful and also realises the distress it has caused to the family."

Sentencing Moftah, Judge Philip St John-Stevens said: "I am told of misguided foolishness but doesn't in any way underestimate what you've done."

Moftah, who lives at home with his parents, was sentenced to 28 days in prison suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving for three months.

He was also ordered to pay a £2,000 fine and costs of £200.

Comments(14)

Gypo.Joe says...
11:26am Mon 21 Jan 13

Silly boy. Get yaself a speed camera app on ya phone sonny.
Only 146 what was you hanging around for ?

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reasonable75 says...
11:40am Mon 21 Jan 13

Would have thought he could also have been charged with attempting to pervert justice

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Tom_Perfect says...
11:53am Mon 21 Jan 13

**** fool. Whether he later confessed or not, what on earth possessed him to drive over twice the speed limit?! Had he lost control and hit a car it's probable all occupants would have been killed instantly, together with himself. If he wants to drive like a maniac, go to Brands Hatch on a trackday.

@ reasonable75 - Moftah pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice

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Gypo.Joe says...
12:23pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Tom_Perfect wrote:
**** fool. Whether he later confessed or not, what on earth possessed him to drive over twice the speed limit?! Had he lost control and hit a car it's probable all occupants would have been killed instantly, together with himself. If he wants to drive like a maniac, go to Brands Hatch on a trackday.

@ reasonable75 - Moftah pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice
Just stay the F outa the outside lane then in the early hours Tom P.

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joertmclark says...
12:29pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Wow, only three months driving ban? I feel like doing it now as it is such a ridiculous sentence! What is wrong with these judges.

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the wall says...
1:17pm Mon 21 Jan 13

joertmclark wrote:
Wow, only three months driving ban? I feel like doing it now as it is such a ridiculous sentence! What is wrong with these judges.
NO not only three months, did you not read the whole report?

28 days in prison suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving for three months.
He was also ordered to pay a £2,000 fine and costs of £200.

First offence, no one hurt, and no one lost any money. I reckon the judge got this right.

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reasonable75 says...
3:11pm Mon 21 Jan 13

Tom_Perfect wrote:
**** fool. Whether he later confessed or not, what on earth possessed him to drive over twice the speed limit?! Had he lost control and hit a car it's probable all occupants would have been killed instantly, together with himself. If he wants to drive like a maniac, go to Brands Hatch on a trackday. @ reasonable75 - Moftah pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice
DOH!

Missed that

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joertmclark says...
4:45pm Mon 21 Jan 13

the wall wrote:
joertmclark wrote:
Wow, only three months driving ban? I feel like doing it now as it is such a ridiculous sentence! What is wrong with these judges.
NO not only three months, did you not read the whole report?

28 days in prison suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving for three months.
He was also ordered to pay a £2,000 fine and costs of £200.

First offence, no one hurt, and no one lost any money. I reckon the judge got this right.
Oops, missed that! Agreed - a judge did get this right, about time.

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Mrs Tait says...
8:21pm Mon 21 Jan 13

3 months for driving at 146mph......he could've killed people..... Very little boy who cannot control his toy ......scum

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PaulErith says...
9:00am Tue 22 Jan 13

joertmclark wrote:
the wall wrote:
joertmclark wrote: Wow, only three months driving ban? I feel like doing it now as it is such a ridiculous sentence! What is wrong with these judges.
NO not only three months, did you not read the whole report? 28 days in prison suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving for three months. He was also ordered to pay a £2,000 fine and costs of £200. First offence, no one hurt, and no one lost any money. I reckon the judge got this right.
Oops, missed that! Agreed - a judge did get this right, about time.
In my opinion, he's probably got a load of money so the fine of £2000 is unlikely to hurt that much. He owns a nice car and obviously likes driving it stupidly. Hit him hard with the thing that would probably hurt him more. i.e. give him a year ban as I bet that would bother him more than the fine.

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j.j. says...
11:38am Tue 22 Jan 13

Moftah Sr or Jr probably paid for top legal advice and they came up with these sob stories to keep him out of prison. Someone form a more humble background could have ended up behind the bars for this.

The question is, will people trust this man enough to buy a used car from him...

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reasonable75 says...
4:25pm Wed 23 Jan 13

Perhaps we should be like some Scandanavian countries where fines are linked to income - a Swedish man was pulled in Switzerland & ended up paying £650,000

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derms297 says...
1:56pm Mon 28 Jan 13

The defendant can consider himself extremely fortunate with his modest punishment. Driving at such speeds is inexcusable and entirely irresponsible, in three months time this man will be back on our roads driving his supercars. In addition his double fabrication makes me fear about how many other times he has twisted the truth in order to accumulate his £1m turnover figure.

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londonlover says...
6:33pm Tue 29 Jan 13

This is an impetuous act. Gypo.Joe, I couldn’t agree with you more – anyone who wants to rocket along the M25 at 146 mph needs to go down the race track rather than do it among innocent motorists, putting their lives in jeopardy. And lying to police is unacceptable – they do a great job in ensuring our lives and communities are safe, and should be shown full respect when dealing with their enquiries rather than told a load of rubbish about a thief swiping number plates or a rebellious French individual putting their foot down on the accelerator too much while taking the car for a spin. Five or six gears to a car? This guy is craving for a tenth gear to be installed.

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