Court / Hill found guilty of driving offences and faces jail if he refuses to pay fine
STUART Hill has been found guilty of a series of road traffic offences following a three-hour trial – and will be jailed if he refuses to pay a fine.
Hill had pleaded not guilty to driving without an MOT, valid driving licence and insurance, as well as having a vehicle without a properly fixed licence plate, after being stopped by police at the Market Cross in Lerwick on 3 May this year.
A lengthy trial at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Thursday heard evidence from two police officers, who grew suspicious of the vehicle after noticing an “atypical” plate bearing the letters “SOV SHET2”.
A vehicle check then found it had no MOT or insurance.
After viewing CCTV footage from the cross – which was shown during the trial – they saw Hill driving the car, and subsequently spoke to him.
Hill confirmed to the two officers, both of them told the court, that he had been driving the car that morning.
However he denied all of the charges and presented his usual string of theories that the court had no jurisdiction over him, and that he was not the man being charged.
The 82-year-old, from Cunningsburgh, said that he was “not the legal person” being accused of the offences, but “a man” who could not be prosecuted by man-made authorities.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank, presiding over his final trial before leaving Shetland, took a dim view of the sovereignty campaigner’s claims.
He threw out preliminary motions before the trial asking for him to be allowed to record the proceedings, and another claiming the court had no jurisdiction over him.
And towards the end of the hearing, he asked Hill – who had cuts all over his nose from a “close encounter with a concrete kerb” and stood throughout the trial – “what more” he could have to present.
Sheriff Cruickshank refused a motion to render the CCTV footage “inadmissible”, with Hill claiming at one point that it could have been “tampered” with.
He said he found the video evidence, and that of two police officers, to be entirely credible – adding there was “absolutely no other conclusion that could be drawn”.
The sheriff asked Hill at what rate he would be willing to pay off any fine, to which he replied: “£1 a week”.
Asked to come with a more reasonable amount, Hill said he would offer “£5 a week”, before adding: “A man has to live”.
Sheriff Cruickshank fined Hill £500 for driving without insurance and £250 for his illegal licence plate, and banned him from driving for six months.
Hill was told he could pay the fine at £5 a week – but warned that if he defaulted on even one payment he would be sent to prison.
The sheriff said this was due to previous non-compliance, and warned Hill that if he failed to pay one week then he would immediately be imprisoned for 28 days.
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