YouTube Biker Sentenced

4 November 2011, 15:52 | Updated: 4 November 2011, 16:18

A motorcyclist who filmed himself driving at speeds of up to 150mph and uploaded the footage onto YouTube has been disqualified from driving for five years.

Robert Mark Owens, 48, used a helmet-mounted video camera to record himself speeding on his Kawasaki 600cc motorbike on roads around Milton Keynes and Bletchley in Buckinghamshire on four occasions in April.

He was sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court, sitting at Amersham Magistrates' Court, after admitting four counts of dangerous driving, a spokesman for Thames Valley Police said.

Some of the footage, which showed him doing wheelies, riding on footpaths and weaving in and out of traffic, was then uploaded onto the video-sharing site.

Owens, of Whaddon Way, Bletchley, was arrested after police received an anonymous call about the internet footage.

As well as a 51-week jail term, suspended for two years, he was disqualified from driving for five years, following which he will have to pass an extended test.

He also had his licence endorsed with 10 points, was ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work and had his £3,000 bike and £150 camera confiscated.

Pc Steve Roebuck, a road policing motorcyclist based at Milton Keynes, said: ``This was amongst the worst examples of dangerous driving I have seen during my time as a police officer and the fact Owens willingly put himself and others in such danger almost beggars belief.

``It is a miracle he survived many of the situations he put himself in and to upload this footage onto a social networking site to boast about what he had done is abhorrent.

``In his own words he has accepted that he was 'an accident waiting to happen'. He placed himself in positions which, despite any motorcycling skills he had, could easily have resulted in tragic consequences.

``Thames Valley Police has the support of social media providers in bringing offenders to justice, as well as other investigative tools to locate people who use social media for criminal means.''