The driver of a high performance Mercedes has been jailed for persistently lying to the police after being clocked twice in one day doing double the speed limit on the M62.

Zakhar Hussain submitted false documents after he was caught going 140mph and 151mph on the motorway on Christmas Day, 2019, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Hussain, 30, span “a web of deceit over a lengthy period of time,” the judge sentencing him said today.

The businessman, of Newstead Terrace, Highroad Well, Halifax, was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to intending to pervert the course of justice between De-cember 24, 2019, and June 12, 2020.

The court heard he was caught on speeding cameras doing 140mph on the Westbound carriageway in his Mercedes C63 in the early hours of Christmas Day and returning at 151mph at 8pm.

Hussain, who had eight penalty points on his licence, was sent notices of intended prosecution but did not respond. When a reminder arrived, he sent in false information saying another man was driving the car.

He went on to lie to the police in interview, claiming the Mercedes was off the road in a garage in Little Horton Lane, Bradford, that day.

When the police investigated, they found that no such garage had ever existed, the court was told.

Hussain stuck to his story before making no comment when questioned a third time.

He had previous convictions for dangerous driving and driving while disqualified, the court was told.

His barrister, Abigail Langford, urged the court to take an exceptional course and not send him immediately to prison.

“He became entrenched in the denial of these matters,” she said.

Since then, Hussain had married and now had a baby daughter.

He was a hardworking man who ran his own business and others would suffer if he lost his liberty, Miss Langford said.

Recorder Simon Eckersley said that letters handed into the court spoke very highly of Hussain and showed that there was a very good side to him.

He was hard working, from a good family and had responsibilities as an employer.

But the offence almost inevitably called for an immediate custodial sentence.

“Perverting the course of justice is always treated seriously by the courts because it strikes at the heart of the administration of justice,” he said.

Hussain had himself conceded that “his weakness is cars,” and he had driven at grossly excessive speeds on the motorway before spinning “a web of deceit over a lengthy peri-od of time.”