Unlicensed driver fled to Somalia after crash

AN UNLICENSED driver smashed head-on into another car while racing home after a night out.

Ibraahim Ibraahim, 34, was driving ‘competitively’ with another vehicle when he smashed into Robert Scott’s car, in Bolton, in February 2014.

Leaving the victim for dead, Ibraahim ran from the scene before fleeing the UK for Somalia.

He avoided detection for five years until police finally caught up with him when he was involved in another collision last year.

Ibraahim was convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving following a trial last month, but is believed to have fled the country yet again.

At Bolton Crown Court on Monday, he was sentenced in his absence to four years and nine months in prison.

Prosecutor Simon Barrett told the court that Ibraahim was returning from a night out in Liverpool with friends when the crash happened shortly before 8am on February 1, 2014.

As his Vauxhall Astra travelled along Bridgeman Street, on the outskirts of Bolton town centre, it careered around a blind bend on the wrong side of the road and smashed head on into Mr Scott’s car. The impact of the crash left him with multiple injuries, including fractures to his leg, hip and skull.

During a trial last month, Ibraahim admitted having drank alcohol prior to the collision but claimed he was only ‘tipsy’. He did not have a licence and was not insured to drive the car.

A jury eventually found Ibraahim, of Langport Avenue, Ardwick, guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Sentencing Ibraahim in his absence, Judge Timothy Stead said he had left Mr Scott ‘for dead’. A police warrant has been issued for Ibraahim’s arrest.

He was also banned from driving for two years and will have to take an extended retest.