An innocent man has been cleared of speeding at 111 miles per hour - after officers from Police Scotland admitted the wrong man had been prosecuted.
Majed Hussain was finally cleared of any wrongdoing a year after the incident and while he was waiting in court minutes before he was due to be put on trial.
Last night Police Scotland and the Crown Office were each holding the other responsible for the bungle which has cost the taxpayer thousands of pounds in court costs. An inquiry into the incident has been instigated by the Crown Office.
Hussain had vehemently protested his innocence since first being quizzed about the speeding incident but was only cleared after the case had called seven times in court.
Despite having no connection with the car at all, and not even fitting the description of the driver, the police and the Crown insisted on pursuing the case against him.
Hussain, 40, from Glasgow, was scheduled to go on trial at Perth Sheriff Court for speeding and having a bald tyre yesterday (FRI) morning.
However, in a highly unusual move, fiscal depute Stuart Richardson asked his lawyer for permission to show his client to the two police officers who stopped the vehicle in August last year.
When Hussain was presented to the officers in the court corridor they both immediately confirmed that he was not the man who had been driving the BMW 116 Sport at high speed.
Hussain - who had carried out his own investigation in a bid to clear his name - also produced a photograph of another man he believed may have been responsible.
The officers said the photograph - showing a considerably younger Asian man without any greying hair - showed a person who could well have been the real driver.
Hussain, Riverview Drive, Glasgow, was called into the dock and Mr Richardson said: "It has been proven pretty conclusively this morning that this was not the gentleman who was responsible for the incident.
"His details had been provided by another person. In light of that, the Crown motion is to desert the case." Sheriff Lindsay Foulis formally dropped the case against Hussain.
The car was clocked at 111 miles per hour on the M90 Inverkiething to Perth road at Gairney Bank on 25 August 2014. One of its tyres was bald.
A PNC check on the vehicle revealed that the registered keeper was a woman from the London area. The mystery driver said he was insured to drive it through his own policy and gave his details as Majed Hussain.
Officers arrived at the real Hussain's home and formally charged him with speeding, despite his protestations that he had no idea what they were talking about.
Six different sheriffs then presided over the case at various stages, as it was called in court on 23 December, 20 January, 10 February, 14 May, 28 May, 6 August and yesterday.
Hussain turned up on three occasions and maintained his not guilty plea throughout, until the police finally said he had been the victim of a case of identity theft.
It is understood that Hussain also gave the police the name of the man he believes is responsible - and showed them a wedding invitation he had received from him and the car's owner.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "The officers did a PNC check and checked his insurance. From our understanding we reported the matter to the fiscal and then it's entirely out of our hands.
"We can only collate all the information and then charge them. We have done our bit."
The Crown Office responded by saying they had now called upon Police Scotland to launch a probe into the circumstances of the case.
"A prosecution was raised against the individual identified and charged by Police Scotland. Evidence that he was not the person who had initially been stopped by officers only came to light today, at which point the case was immediately discontinued.
"Police Scotland are being instructed to make enquiries into the circumstances of this case, and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."
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