July 2020 Lockleaze sex offender caught illegally driving lorry in France after crashing into toll booth A convicted sex offender who got work as a lorry driver drove to France for work, despite not have a licence for a lorry and should not have been abroad. When he crashed into a motorway toll booth the game was up. Martin Williams, 59, of Romney Avenue in Lockleaze, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a notification requirement. Judge Martin Picton jailed him for 14 months. He told Williams: “You know you shouldn’t have gone abroad. “You chose to do so. You had a choice.” Bristol Crown Court heard in March 2003 Williams was jailed for 11 years for serious sexual offending, Grace Flynn, prosecuting via video link due to coronavirus lockdown, said that as a result he had been ordered to notify his movements with authorities. Not only did he fail to do so when he visited Thailand but having got work as an HGV driver he breached the notification requirement a second time when he drove a lorry to France in April last year. Miss Flynn said: “He and a crane operative left the country on April 24 and arrived in France. “British authorities were notified because Mr Williams had a bump with a motorway toll booth. “French authorities notified the British authorities he was in France and they did not know about it.” The court heard Williams should have provided notice to leave the UK. But, further still, an amendment to his driving licence meant he shouldn’t have been driving an HGV due to previous convictions relating to lorry driving activity.