A man put pressure on a witness to drop evidence against him in a drink driving case, leaving the victim feeling uneasy working alone at night, a court heard.

Lee Holmes conducted almost a campaign of harassment against the witness, who worked in a petrol filling station, often at night, in the hope that he would withdraw his co-operation with a police investigation into the drink driving allegation.

Durham Crown Court heard that Holmes has subsequently been dealt with for driving over the prescribed limit for alcohol, his seventh such conviction, but new charges were brought against him, alleging doing acts tending or intended to pervert the course of justice.

The 43-year-old defendant, of Kyo Lane, near Stanley, denied two such counts at a plea hearing at the court in March.

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One of the charges alleged that between November 5, 2020, and January 6, last year, he did a series of acts attempting to persuade a witness in an ongoing criminal investigation not to give evidence.

The second count stated that on a specific date, January 5, 2021, he attempted to persuade a witness not to co-operate with the prosecution.

Following a two-day trial earlier this week, a jury found him guilty of both charges on Tuesday and sentence was adjourned until today (Wednesday September 28).

Deborah Smithies, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing the defendant has 25 past convictions for 42 previous offences, including seven for drink driving, although she did point out that there was a gap in his offending between 2015 and 2021.

Miss Smithies added that the Court of Appeal has made a policy statement calling for deterrent sentences of custody to be passed in most cases of perverting or attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Sarah Procter, in mitigation, initially apologised for the defendant’s behaviour, an outburst made upon the jury’s verdicts on Tuesday.

“He feels ashamed and asks me to apologise.”

Regarding the offences, themselves, Miss Procter said: “These were opportunistic, when he was visiting the garage, at a time he was pre-occupied with the incident and in rather cack-handed fashion he has tried to speak to the witness about the case.”

She said it was “misguided” and no money was offered by which to try to bribe the witness.

“There were no real threats made and only, perhaps, a vague threat which the witness did not really feel was that, although he did feel anxious when he worked at night.”

Miss Procter said the main issue behind Holmes’ offending was his excessive use of alcohol, an addiction he has been unable to control and which has, “plagued his adult life”.

She said the pressure of the ongoing proceedings over the past two years has made his drink problem worse.

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Miss Procter added that he wants to try to control his issues and an alcohol treatment programme offered by the Probation Service could prove effective.

But Judge Jo Kidd told Holmes he was convicted for offences which reflected “a pattern” of regularly going to the filling station when the witness was working alone.

Judge Kidd said she was satisfied this was “deliberate” rather than “opportunistic”, even taking children with him in the early hours on one occasion intending to put further “stress and strain” on the victim.

She said there could be no other reason for doing this other than to, “coerce him to fail to co-operate with a police investigation.”

Judge Kidd also accused Holmes of, “deliberate, persistent, targeted and sustained” behaviour.

“It did not involve any physical threat to him, but it was done in a way to seek to persuade him not to co-operate with the investigation.”

Imposing a 12-month prison sentence, she added that cases such as this, “which strike to the heart of the criminal justice system”, have to be met with immediate terms of custody.

Read next:

               County Durham woman jailed for falsely reporting burglary and theft of car

               St Helen Auckland father and daughter admit conspiring to pervert the course of justice

               Man on suspended prison sentence admits previous driving matter

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