A driver who abandoned a BMW car at the scene of a crash later pretended to police to be his brother to escape any penalty, a court heard.

George Bower, 27, even let the case go to King's Lynn Magistrates under the false name leaving his brother wrongly ending up with six penalty points on his licence, Norwich Crown Court heard.

Steven Attridge, prosecuting, said Bower was disqualified at the time of the accident, which happened in Swanton Road, Dereham, back in July 2017, but because of the deception was able to drive for 11 months before finally being exposed as being the real driver of the BMW and not his brother.

Mr Attridge said the deception came to light when Bower's brother realised he had points on his licence for offences he did not commit and when police investigated further they found Bower had given them his brother's name, who was innocent of any offences.

Bower of Low Road, Holme Hale, near Swaffham, admitted perverting the course of justice. The court heard that at the time of the accident Bower had been banned from driving for excess alcohol.

Michael Clare, defending, said there had been a long delay in the case coming to court and Bower was a very different person to the one who committed the offence two and half years ago.

He said even allowing for problems caused by Covid there had been extensive delays.

He said Bower was now settled down with a family and had his own successful business and was worried about the impact on his family.

Jailing him for six months Judge Maureen Bacon said as a result of his deception he had been able to drive about for almost a year.

However she accepted he was only 23 at the time and said: "Much has changed in your life."

She added: "You are a very different person to the young man that did these rash and foolish things."

She said offences such as this had to be marked by immediate custody but was making it shorter than it would have been otherwise.