‘It was lucky no-one was killed’

JUDGE Jonathan Gibson said it was lucky no-one was killed during Shah’s latest offence of dangerous driving.

Sentencing, he said: “You tried to outrun the police over quite a distance in a built up residential area.

“This was a case of serious excessive speed. There was no injuries or serious damage, but the potential for death or serious injury was considerable.

“It would only have taken one pedestrian to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for that to have occurred.

“Your position is also aggravated by your previous convictions including two dangerous driving convictions.”

Marianne Alton, defending, said Shah was ‘utterly stupid’ and has a ‘big problem with driving’.

She told the court: “He knows this will be dealt with by a prison sentence. He is realistic.

“His record relates almost wholly to driving and he recognises the extent of his problem.

“His judgement becomes clouded when it comes to cars and he’s at the point now where he needs help and he’s trying to get that help.

“He genuinely wishes to reform and is genuinely ashamed of himself and the shame he has caused to his family.

“This is a bad piece of driving but it’s perhaps not the worst example of dangerous driving that comes before the courts.

“There is no suggestion that he was driving dangerously before the police tried to stop him.”

Miss Alton said it was ‘sheer panic’ when he saw the pursuing police car and he didn’t realise he had gone through a stinger.

The court heard how ‘teetotaller’ Shah had offered to drive friends home who had been drinking after a night in Manchester.