LONDON: TV producer and journalist Jemima Goldsmith blamed her builders as she was convicted and fined £1,000 over a run-in with the Metropolitan Police over a case related to breaking the speed limit.
The 52-year-old, the former wife of PTI founder and leader Imran Khan, failed to respond to police letters after a Mini Clubman vehicle registered in her name was caught breaking the speed limit in north London.
Jemima Goldsmith eventually offered up the name of the guilty driver who had been using her car, but by then she had missed the deadline to respond to avoid court proceedings.
Explaining the blunder, Goldsmith blamed major renovation work on her £10 million Kensington home.
“Due to ongoing construction works at the property where my car is registered, which made access tricky, the original letter was mislaid by builders and I was unaware of its existence until October,” she wrote, in a note to Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
“As soon as it was received, I completed and returned the form immediately.”
Court papers show Goldsmith named a man called Anthony Reilly, who lives in Switzerland, as the person who had been driving the Mini when it was caught doing 46mph on a 40mph stretch of the A1 in Hampstead on August 28 last year.
But her response was dated November 4 – six days after the final police deadline and two months after the first notification of a speeding ticket.
In a letter to the court, Goldsmith also referenced the death of her mother, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, in October last year at the age of 91.
“My PA, who collects the post, had been on annual leave in October and my mother died on the 18th that month, so I was less on top of things than I am normally. I am very sorry for the delay and inconvenience caused. I fully accept that a fine is due.”
Goldsmith was convicted by magistrate Gladys Famoriyo of failing to give information relating to the identification of the driver of a vehicle when required.
The magistrate imposed a £1,000 fine, six penalty points for her licence, and also ordered Goldsmith to pay £130 in costs and a £400 victim surcharge.
Goldsmith, who is known professionally as Jemima Khan, is the founder of a TV production company and has worked as a screenwriter and magazine editor.
She married former cricketer Imran Khan in 1995, and they have two children together.
Documents filed with Kensington and Chelsea Council show Goldsmith successfully applied last year for permission to carry out major renovations on her home, including the demolition and “grand” rebuild of one of the wings of the luxury property.
She was prosecuted over her failure to identify the speeding driver in the Single Justice Procedure, a fast-track court process which spares defendants the need to come to court and allows magistrates to make decisions on convictions and sentences in closed-door hearings.
Goldsmith was among 1,905 defendants who were convicted and sentenced last week for failing to identify the driver of a vehicle when contacted by police.
More than 330 of those defendants lost their licence as a result of the conviction.
