A trial is taking place for an Oxford man accused of crashing his car and falsely reporting it was stolen.
Andrew Stuart, of Strawberry Path, Oxford, is on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with two offences.
The 42-year-old has been charged with one count each of driving a motor vehicle dangerously and committing an act/serious of acts intended to pervert the course of public justice.
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Stuart is accused of being the driver of a black Audi A3 which was involved in a crash at the junction of Wood Farm Road and Atkyns Road in Oxford on July 29, 2022.
It is alleged that he then attempted to pervert the course of justice on August 1, 2022 after ‘falsely reporting’ to the police and his insurance company that the vehicle had been stolen.
Stuart has denied the offences and is now on trial – claiming that the car had been parked outside his home and unused for a while ahead of the incident.
During the trial on Wednesday (March 19), a twelve-strong jury heard from the investigating officer in the case.
He explained that, at about 10pm on the day of the incident, the black Audi A3 had driven out of Atkyns Road and collided with a white vehicle travelling past the junction of Wood Farm Road.
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CCTV of the aftermath of the collision was caught on a bus travelling towards the junction. The investigating officer explained that, in the footage, two males and two females appear to be associated with the vehicle.
One of the women reaches into the vehicle to grab something before all four leave the scene.
The Audi A3 was then seized and taken to a recovery garage. After a check for the registered keeper, police identified the defendant and sent him a notice of intended prosecution (NIP).
An NIP is a formal notification sent to the registered keeper of a vehicle within 14 days of an alleged road traffic offense, indicating that prosecution is being considered.
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The officer tried to contact the defendant seven times, leaving him emails and voicemails on his mobile phone throughout August after it emerged that Stuart had reported the vehicle stolen through an online report to police.
However, the officer was unable to contact the defendant until he attended the police station on October 20 for a voluntary interview in which he denied the offences and stated his car had been taken.
The trial, which is expected to conclude this week, continues.
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