A MOTORCYCLIST enthusiast was today starting a nine-month jail sentence for the lies that got his associates wrongly charged with theft as they mourned a friend's death.

Stuart Malcolm Benson, 32, loaned Neil Eyles, 36, and two other acquaintances three motorbikes, said Robert Collins, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

But the bikes were uninsured and when Mr Eyles, of Elmwood Street, Harrogate, died in a crash, Benson told police the motorcycles had been stolen.

On June 5, two days after Mr Eyles' death, his friends Edward Plumpton and Peter Wood were arrested and wrongly charged with theft.

"They had to live with that false charge hanging over their heads for a week," Recorder Andrew Robertson QC told Benson.

He jailed Benson for nine months and banned him from driving for 12 months.

The prosecution originally believed Benson had just one old conviction under the name "Stewart Benson".

When the judge saw a long list of convictions for dishonesty and motoring offences under his real name, Benson denied he had a middle name "Malcolm". But a birth date check led to his admitting they were his convictions.

Benson, formerly of Hambleton Road, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and three charges of permitting the use of a motorcycle without insurance.

Simon Reevell, for Benson, said he had revealed his deceit to police on June 12. He had not checked that his three "associates" had insurance, and it was not a case of his knowing they were uninsured.

The shock of the death of his friend, Mr Eyles, had led to him and his partner moving to the North-East with financial difficulties.

Updated: 11:45 Saturday, September 29, 2001