A former West Midlands police officer and his brother who both got their alcoholic father to “take the points” for speeding offences have walked free from court.

A judge took mercy on ex Pc Daniel Baker and his chartered surveyor brother Matthew after hearing that the previous day they had to switch off their father’s life support machine.

Judge Trevor Faber told them: “I hear that you both turned off your father’s life support machine, and I have come to the conclusion that I would be less than human if I sent you to custody today. If it were not for that fact, you would have been going down those steps.”

Daniel Baker, aged 28, of St Francis Drive, Kings Norton, and Matthew Baker, aged 29, of Hensborough, Shirley, Solihull, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to separate offences of perverting the course of justice.

They were both sentenced to two months in prison suspended for 12 months, banned from driving for a year, ordered to do 250 hours unpaid work and pay £287 costs.

Their father David Baker, aged 56, of Yardley Wood Road, Moseley, had also been due in court to face two charges of perverting the course of justice.

Prosecutor Tom Schofield said he had died the previous day after being in intensive care suffering from sclerosis of the liver. The brothers wanted the case to go ahead despite their father’s death.

Mr Schofield said that in December, 2007 Matthew Baker’s BMW was captured by a speed camera doing 38mph on the A44 New Road in Worcester, which has a 30mph limit.

A photograph showed the driver was a blonde with shoulder-length hair, but when a notice of prosecution came through he returned it saying his father had been driving.

As a result David Baker was fined and had three points put on his licence. His son paid the fine.

Daniel Baker was a serving West Midlands officer who had a clean licence and, with the permission of his senior officer, ran a business as a handyman when he was off-duty.

For that he had bought a Fiat van which was clocked doing 74mph on the A435 in Bromsgrove, where the maximum speed is 60mph.

When he received a notice of prosecution he sent a number of text messages which suggested he wanted to avoid liability by saying his number plates had been stolen and jokingly asking a friend to “take the points.”

He asked the central ticket office to send him the picture from the camera, saying his car may have been cloned. The notice was then returned saying his father had been driving - as a result of which David Baker received another three points.

Michael Garrett, for Matthew Baker, said the driver in his BMW had been his partner, now his fiance, who had been on her way to the funeral of a family friend.

He did not want to add to the pressures she was under, so took in on himself “as a misguided act of chivalry” to sent the form back naming his father as the driver.

As a result of the offence his career as a chartered surveyor has been blighted and the conviction will have to be notified to his professional body. His position with a Birmingham-based practice, where he is on a probationary period, will also be in question.

Brian Dean, for Daniel Baker, said his client was a serving police officer at the time who was desperate to become a traffic officer and added: “His life is in ruins. He has lost his career and possibly his pension.”