Soccer player sentenced to four years in prison after filming himself driving a BMW at 307 km/h

An English footballer has been sentenced to four years in prison after filming himself driving at 307 km/h on public roads across the country. Connor Charlton, 32, a striker for Nostell Miners Welfare FC, was also banned from driving for four years and seven months and will have to pass an extended driving test to regain his license, Leeds Crown Court ruled.

The speed recorded in the video is more than 2.5 times the limit of 113 km/h on British highways. And it was not an isolated episode. According to the prosecution, other recordings show Charlton starting from a traffic light up to 253 km/h, weaving in traffic at high speed and skidding on purpose with the SUV at a roundabout, in a scene filmed by someone else. In one of the records, he closes a white van after taking the car out in front of it.

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How the police arrived at the videos

The case started for another reason. In September 2023, Charlton was involved in an accident with the BMW, and the investigation of the occurrence led the police to seize the vehicle and examine its electronic devices, as found by The Sun newspaper.

That’s when the list grew. Prosecutors said they found on the player’s cell phone a note with a fake version of the crash, attributed to a driver who had fled the scene. Data extracted from the BMW itself showed that the car had exceeded 172 km/h on eight occasions in the previous year. The investigation also pointed out that Charlton managed to get other people to take points on the license in his place.

In front of the set, the player admitted ten infractions of dangerous driving and four crimes of obstruction of justice, which resulted in the sentence.

Why the SUV exceeded 300 km/h

The choice of car helps explain the number. All X3 M sold in the UK between 2020 and 2024 came out in the Competition configuration, with the S58 3.0-litre, six-cylinder in-line and two turbocharged 510 hp engine.

Even so, the performance does not match. A factory X3 M Competition is electronically limited to 250 km/h, which indicates that Charlton’s example had been modified. Preparers can take this engine to more than 629 hp and, in the same process, remove the speed limiter.