Ian Brown of the Stone Roses. Photo / Supplied
Listening in a British court to the lawyer known as "Mr Loophole", you could be forgiven for thinking a model citizen was on trial - not one of music's most abrasive frontmen who had been clocked speeding at 168km/h.
Solicitor Nick Freeman spoke of the curiously saintly "domestic obligations" of the Stone Roses' Ian Brown - such as popping to the supermarket for his elderly parents and picking his son up from school to take him out for dinner.
The lawyer's presentation should have Brown's fans sighing with relief, as the lead singer of the newly re-formed band escaped a driving ban.
The musician was appearing at Chester magistrates' court having been trailed by a police car on the M6 at 12.30am on April 25, when for 8km his Lexus M6 never dropped below 151km/h and for nearly 2km hit 168km/h.
He initially denied the offence but later pleaded guilty.
In 1988, the singer spent two months in prison after being convicted of air rage - a sentence he later said would have been much shorter if only he had hired a decent lawyer.
There was to be no such negligence this time.
Brown was fined £650 ($1290) and given six penalty points on his licence.
The solicitor told the court a ban would cause insurmountable problems for Brown, who is now regularly driving to rehearsals at a "remote secret location" to ensure the band is in good enough nick to perform to 220,000 people over two days next June at Heaton Park in Manchester.
Mr Freeman said Brown was enduring an extremely acrimonious divorce with his wife of 10 years.
He said Brown drove to London from his home in the Cheshire village of Lymm every Wednesday to collect his 11-year-old son from school and take him out for dinner, as well as visiting him three out of every four weekends.
"As somebody who is now in the public eye, one can imagine the difficulties he would now encounter if he were forced to rely on public transport."
- Independent
By Rob Hastings
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