Medical salesman jailed for doctor speeding lie

Oct 1 2007

A medical salesman from Liverpool who conned a court into believing he was a doctor attending an emergency call to get off a speeding fine has been jailed for a year.

Doctor’s son Omid Mohammed Chiang, 26, who has no medical qualifications, wept as Judge John Boggis QC imposed the sentence at Southampton Crown Court.

Judge Boggis said Chiang had shown "breathtaking nerve" in getting off the speeding fine and then brazenly claiming £1,600 costs from the court to cover the "completely fabricated" salary of a non-existent locum doctor for the day he was at court to plead his case.

Chiang pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and attempted deception at an earlier hearing.

The 26-year-old, formerly from Brighton, was given an absolute discharge and had his costs awarded when he appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court for the speed camera offence in March last year .

James Kellam, prosecuting, said that Chiang was caught doing 38mph in a 30mph zone in Southampton but he immediately wrote to the police asking for an exemption and started the letter with "I am a medical general practitioner".

In the earlier hearing, Chiang told the district judge he was travelling back to Brighton to treat a sick child and produced a fake letter from the mother.

The court heard that the former public schoolboy had a father who is a GP. He had started a medical training course but dropped out because he could not stand the sight of blood.

But the court heard the photograph of the speeding offence showed Chiang’s car with a green flashing light on the roof, the hearing was told. When he was arrested police found a ’doctor on call’ sign inside the vehicle, a defibrillator, and a high visibility jacket with ’doctor’ written on it.

In mitigation, Simon Channo told the court that Chiang had seen a psychiatrist who had made an initial diagnosis of a excessive compulsive disorder and a condition called pseudologia fantastica which made him a pathological liar, in addition to gambling problems. He said he was petrified of going to prison and had attempted suicide twice.