Driver jailed for hitting 130mph on Hampshire motorway - and denied it was him despite personalised number plate

A motorist who drove at speeds of up to 130mph on a motorway has been jailed.
The M27The M27
The M27

Mohamed Ghaibeh, 29, of Queen’s Park Avenue, Bournemouth, was found guilty of dangerous driving following a three-day trial at Portsmouth Crown Court this year.

The jury heard how Ghaibeh came to the attention of an unmarked police vehicle as he weaved in and out of lanes at high speeds along the M3 and M27 on June 22 last year.

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The trial was told that Ghaibeh, in his white Range Rover, reached speeds of more than 100mph, carried out multi-vehicle undertakes, tailgated other vehicles and weaved across lanes.

At one point, the court heard how a following officer noticed that he was neither gaining nor losing Ghaibeh at 130mph for a distance of more than a mile on the M3.

Ghaibeh was stopped close to junction one of the M27 westbound, just before 8pm.

During the trial, Ghaibeh’s defence claimed that the officers stopped the wrong white Range Rover – which had a personalised number plate.

The jury took less than an hour to find him guilty.

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Yesterday at Portsmouth Crown Court, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison and disqualified from driving for 18 months.

As he sentenced Ghaibeh, Judge Melville QC described his driving as ‘aggressive’ and ‘arrogant’.

PC Kevin Pearson, from the Joint Roads Police Unit, said: ‘Ghaibeh’s driving was utterly reckless and could have easily caused a fatality that evening.

‘Driving at such high speeds in such an irresponsible way meant that he would have had no time to react if something had suddenly got in his way.

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‘His actions would have also been quite frightening for any of the other motorists who he came speeding towards.

‘Not only was he putting his life at risk, he was putting the lives of innocent roads users in jeopardy and there is never an excuse for that.’

Sgt Pearson added: ‘Even when he was stopped, in the car that we had been following that had a registration plate bearing his own name, he still refused to take responsibility but it didn’t take the jury long to see through his denials.’