A college lecturer hatched a plot to dodge a speeding ticket – then branded her would-be accomplice a “slag” when she backed out, a court heard.
Rita Mckenna, 36, already had nine points on her licence when she was clocked by a speed camera travelling 41mph in a 30mph zone.
The attractive mother-of-two was so desperate to avoid the inevitable ban she begged a friend to say she was behind the wheel of her Audi.
But when the mate changed her mind she had to ask another woman, Natasha Jasper, 24, to say she was driving.
Mckenna’s scam fell apart when Jasper failed to attend a speed awareness course and was threatened with prosecution.
The two women were given suspended sentences last November when they admitted perverting the course of justice.
But bitter Mckenna was hauled back to court this week for sending a vile text message to the first of the two women involved in her bungled scam.
Three days after her sentencing on November 28 Mckenna got drunk and contacted the woman to call her “a slag” and a “tramp”, Plymouth Magistrates Court heard.
She blamed her for her conviction and claimed she had “lost everything” after being suspended from her job as a beauty and nails lecturer, prosecutor Angela Furniss said.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had initially agreed to go along with Mckenna’s lies after she received a notice of intended prosecution in May 2012.
She had nine points on her licence and risked disqualification if she was given more for speeding or failing to identify the driver, the court heard.
Ms Furniss said the woman changed her mind and backed out and as a result never faced prosecution.
Mckenna then paid £80 for Jasper to take the points and attend a speed awareness course but the younger woman failed to show up.
Mckenna, of Plymouth, was originally handed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, banned from driving for two years, and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.
But after admitting using the electronic communications network to send an offensive message she faces a new punishment, plus the possibility that she will be ordered to serve the original jail sentence.
Mckenna was released on bail until her sentencing at the city’s crown court on March 28.
Jasper, of Plymouth, was given a 12-month community order with 100 hours unpaid work and an employment and training course when the pair appeared there last November.
