A SPEEDING points scam landed three men in jail a day after former cabinet minister Chris Huhne was locked up for the same offence.

Huhne and his former wife were sent to prison for eight months on Monday after he got her to take his speeding points.

Yesterday Andrew Grainger, his nephew Kenneth Grainger and Graham McDermott were all jailed for three months for similar lies. Sentencing the trio at Newcastle Crown Court, a judge made reference to Huhne’s case.

Judge James Goss QC said: “The resemblance to the case that was sentenced yesterday is just remarkable.”

Andrew Grainger asked Kenneth Grainger if he knew anyone who would be willing to accept points on their licence in exchange for cash after he was caught speeding in Sunderland on March 27 last year.

The court heard pal Graham McDermott agreed to pretend he had been riding the motorbike, which was clocked doing 37mph in a 30mph zone, and submitted a false confession to magistrates.

He was paid £170 in exchange. But the court heard their scam was uncovered when the men fell out over the £500 fine imposed on McDermott, which none of them had been expecting.

It was after the bailiffs turned up at McDermott’s door demanding the unpaid fine that he sent a letter to magistrates admitting what they had done.

Andrew Grainger, 50, of Raynham Court, South Shields, Kenneth Grainger, 32, of Hollin Hill Road, Washington, and Graham McDermott, 41, Hollin Hill Road, Washington, all pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Judge Goss said: “As is well-known, and should be well-known, people who enter into agreements to pervert the course of justice, particularly in relation to speeding or motoring offences, in general, are entering on to very thin ice and can expect to receive custodial sentences.”

Prosecutor Emma Dowling said Andrew Grainger was snapped by a speed camera and a few days later got a fixed penalty notice through the post.

Miss Dowling told the court: “Fearful of the consequences of accepting he had been not only speeding, but riding without a licence, he contacted Kenneth Grainger, his nephew, and asked if he knew anyone who might be prepared to take the points for him in exchange for money. After some thought, Mr Grainger put him in contact with Graham McDermott.”

The court heard McDermott accepted the points but was also landed with a £500 fine.

Miss Dowling said: “The fine was more than Mr McDermott had anticipated and more than Mr Grainger had anticipated.

“A dispute broke out between them over who was going to pay this amount of money. Mr McDermott decided, when the bailiffs came around to enforce the payment, it was time to come clean.”

Defence barristers said none of the three men appreciated the seriousness of what they had done.