Prison sentence for 122mph biker

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Police footage of the speeding motorcyclist

A motorcyclist caught speeding at 122mph (196km/h) with his 14-year-old son riding pillion has been sentenced to six months in prison.

Robert Bennett, 47, from Barnstaple in Devon, had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

Exeter Crown Court heard his son was not wearing any protective clothing at the time of the offence in April 2008.

Sentencing Bennett, the judge said that if he had lost control of the bike it would have become a "missile".

Had he lost control of his motorcycle at that speed the result, I'm sure, would have been fatal Pc Duncan Russell, Devon and Cornwall Police

Bennett had picked his son up for an access visit when he was caught by a police mobile speed camera on the North Devon Link Road, near South Molton.

His son was filmed holding on to the seat of the motorbike with his bare hands.

Bennett said he had "pulled back the throttle" on his Suzuki 1300cc motorbike because it had "started to rain".

Judge Phillip Wassell told Bennett: "Had you lost control of your motorcycle it would have become a missile and caused a serious accident and probably death would have followed.

"The lack of responsibility is almost unbelievable.

"The matter is so serious a custodial sentence cannot be avoided."

Potentially fatal

Speaking outside court Pc Duncan Russell, from Devon and Cornwall Safety Camera Partnership, said: "Robert Bennett accepted that what he did was dangerous and the sentence passed by the court today reflects how serious this incident was.

"He was lucky his actions did not lead to anyone being hurt.

"Had he lost control of his motorcycle at that speed the result I'm sure would have been fatal."

In addition to his six month sentence, Bennett was banned from driving for 18 months and will have to take an extended driving test at the end of his disqualification.