A MAN has narrowly avoided jail after spinning an intricate web of lies about a friend to avoid paying a £60 speeding fine.

Brian Watkins-Gill, 64, from St Peters Close, Torquay, claimed a former friend was behind the wheel of his Ford Mondeo when it was snapped by a speed camera at Plympton, Plymouth in May 2008.

After it was established the friend Robin Pengelly had since moved from his former Exmouth home to Spain, Watkins-Gill was arrested and charged with perverting the course of justice.

However, the defendant continued to insist a man with a similar name and address as his friend had been test driving his car at the time of the offence.

He was fined £500 and sentenced to a suspended six-month jail term on Friday after a judge branded his tale 'wholly unbelievable'.

Speaking from his Spanish home in Torrox, near the Costa del Sol, 53-year-old Mr Pengelly said: "I feel totally betrayed and very upset. The anger has subsided over a period of time and I was very upset a person I had known for 20 years and had helped out when he was unemployed had done something like that.

"We arrived back from Spain unaware this had gone on, and I applied for a new driving licence and was shocked a friend had done this.

"You can imagine that living in Spain it has been difficult just communicating.

"There has been numerous emails and phone calls since coming back and total shock at establishing that it was what I thought was a friend of mine that had put me in this situation.

"The journeys to court have been horrendous.

"I was in total shock that I was in that situation.

"I was totally betrayed.

"When I was in court I thought there might be some acknowledgement, or he would say 'I am sorry' but there was nothing. He never made eye contact with me and to stand there and swear on the Bible, it was an absolute betrayal of our friendship."

The court heard stunned Mr Pengelly, who used to live in Exmouth, returned home from Spain last June to find six penalty points and a total of £600 of fines on his driving licence and that debt collectors were looking for him because of the unpaid fine.

Police then discovered Watkins-Gill had falsely named Mr Pengelly as the driver after he told police about his licence.

However, Watkins-Gill refused to admit a charge of perverting the course of justice and pleaded not guilty.

He insisted a stranger had responded to an advert to test drive his car from Torquay to Plymouth.

Watkins-Gill said the driver, an 'R Pengelly', wrote his name and address in his diary — but that the book had subsequently been destroyed.

He also denied that Mr Pengelly, whom he had holidayed with and who had sold him his greeting card business, was a good friend and said he did not know his address.

A jury at Plymouth Crown Court unanimously found him guilty in July this year and he was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, at Bristol Crown Court.

Judge Recorder Pringle QC warned Watts-Gill he had been extremely close to going to prison if it not for his previous good character and a serious illness to his wife.

He said: "Running a trial in which your evidence was wholly unbelievable does you no credit whatsoever.

"One can only imagine Pengelly's anger about finding out what had happened."

Watkins-Gill, who still insisted he was innocent after being found guilty, also received a £500 fine and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.