Speeder was told his terminally ill father was deteriorating

Peter McCartan, Drumaran Road, Gilford, admitted speeding on July 15 this year.

The court heard he was detected driving at 118mph in a Mercedes on the motorway.

A barrister representing the defendant said his client got a phone call about his father who was in the cancer unit.

District Judge, Mrs Bernie Kelly, said she had sympathy with the demise of his father but there was no excuse for speeding.

She added that McCartan had never been learned to assess the distance to stop at that speed.

The judge said that if there was some emergency in front of him not of his making he could not stop and he would kill every human being in his path.

The barrister said that quite clearly his mind was in another place because he was told to go down to the cancer unit because his daddy had deteriorated.

He added that sadly a number of weeks later his father died.

The lawyer said McCartan had now taken over his father’s business and there was only himself and an apprentice.

He explained that the apprentice had a licence but it would take an exorbitant amount to pay for insurance for him.

Judge Kelly told McCartan this was a ‘horrendous speed’ and he had not been trained to drive at this speed.

She added that he could have gone over the barrier and a ban had to be imposed to discourage others.

Judge Kelly fined McCartan £500, ordered him to pay a £15 offender’s levy and banned him from driving for four weeks.