Chase driver raced at 90mph in 30-zone

‘RECKLESS’ MOTORIST SPARED JAIL BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH

A ‘RECKLESS and irresponsible’ driver led the police on a high-speed chase at almost triple the limit.

Imran Mahmood, 27, was first spotted by officers in an unmarked car when he almost clipped the side of a parked vehicle, Manchester Crown Court heard.

As the pursuit began at around 1.50am on July 9 last year, Mahmood, from Crumpsall, jumped a red light in his Seat Ibiza before accelerating to speeds of 90mph.

The two-minute chase came to an end when Mahmood attempted a right turn, but lost control and crashed into a concrete fence. He initially told police he wasn’t the driver and that ‘a female who was the driver had run off.’

Haseeb Yousaf, defending, said that a pre-sentence report alluded to his client suffering with mental health issues. Mr Yousaf said: “The defendant said when he committed this offence he wasn’t thinking properly and made a mistake.

“He has been a cannabis user for some years and prior to the offence he had come off it and said his ‘head was all over the place.’”

Mahmood pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving while disqualified. He was sentenced to 16 months in jail, suspended for two years.

He was said to have 11 previous convictions for 19 offences, including driving under the influence of drugs in April 2018, for which he was banned for three years from getting behind the wheel.

Addressing Mahmood, who held his hands in prayer in the dock, Judge Michael Leeming told him: “This was a completely reckless and irresponsible display of bad driving. Nobody, by the dint of good fortune, was injured. I am just about persuaded that this sentence can be suspended – you will never come closer to an immediate custodial sentence.

“If you breach it, you will come back before me, I will remember you, and I will send you to prison. There is no second chance. Come back before me and you’re going down.” Mahmood, of Rectory Road, Crumpsall, was also ordered to complete 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days, a thinking skills programme, and made subject of a three-month electronically monitored curfew. He was also banned from driving for a further two years and must take an extended driving retest.

Come back before me and you’re going down

Judge Michael Leeming