Rogue landlord Dickens drove 115mph on A55

Jun 11 2009 by Steve Stratford, North Wales Weekly News

A MILLIONAIRE property dealer was caught driving along the A55 at a massive 115mph.

At the time, landlord Steven Dickens was on trial at Knutsford Crown Court on fraud charges.

Dickens – currently serving a 21 month prison sentence – on Tuesday pleaded guilty in his absence at Flintshire magistrates’ court at Mold to driving his Jaguar X-type at 115mph, breaking the 70mph limit, between Northop Hall and Halkyn in Flintshire.

The offence happened on December 19, part way through his crown court trial.

He was fined £200 with £50 costs but magistrates ordered that he should serve seven days in lieu of the fine.

The court heard that administrators had frozen all his assets pending a Proceeds of Crime hearing.

Matthew Ellis, prosecuting, said that the high speed was recorded by police along the westbound carriageway of the A55.

He said Dickens told an officer: “I am not getting into your car. I am part of a new generation that will go to court and take it all the way – and keep you there for weeks. It will keep you off the streets.”

Magistrates heard that Dickens was still serving his sentence.

At the time of the speeding offence, Dickens had been on trial at Knutsford, had been rushing back and forth to his home in North Wales, had a lot on his mind, and had not realised how his speed had built up.

In February Dickens was locked up for 21 months for fraudulently obtaining £690,000 in loans from building societies and banks.

Dickens had been “brought to his knees” and now faced bankruptcy after an investigation into his property empire uncovered his lies, the court heard.

Dickens, of Marine Drive, Rhos-on-Sea, was found guilty of 10 counts of illegally obtaining £690,000 between 1992 and 2004, at an earlier hearing at Knutsford Crown Court.

It emerged he had repeatedly lied on mortgage application forms, claiming he was working for firms he was not, and that he was going to live in the properties when they were rented for profit.