Man stole identity seven times
A FORMER restaurant owner spent years using an ex-employee’s details to get him and his children off a raft speeding fines.
Israr Fazal, 61, used someone else’s identity to avoid two fines and penalty points for offences he had committed, got his daughter off the hook three times with the same method - and used the bogus details to get each of his sons off once each.
He used the details of Rohan Ratnakumar, who had worked for him at the Royal Naz Indian restaurant in Rusholme as a student in the late 1990s.
The unsuspecting victim suffered years of hassle and stress as a result.
Fazal of Larkhill Road, Cheadle Hulme, who has 17 aliases, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at Minshull Street Crown Court, but at sentencing there was no suitable punishment found for him.
His 18-month prison sentence was suspended for two years as he was considered too ill to survive jail. Poor health also meant no condition of unpaid work or rehabilitation activity could be imposed instead. And despite prosecutor Lisa Boocock describing Fazal as ‘wealthy,’ his defence argued he was on benefits and of limited means, so no fine or costs were imposed.
It was said Fazal had copied Mr Ratnakumar’s driving licence so he could undertake some driving work and then kept it for years. Then, any time a fine came through the post, those details were sent back to the DVLA.
Mr Ratnakumar, originally from Sri Lanka, had to appear at court and was stopped at airport customs because a warrant was out for his arrest before Fazal’s scheme unravelled.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Ratnakumar, now 45 and a chemist living in the Home Counties, said: “I felt I wasn’t able to do anything, that I was powerless. Someone had my details and was using them 15 years later, I felt anxiety for what would happen next.
“It is not very much punishment for what has happened, if this sort of thing is to be stopped then there must be some form of punishment.
“There were hassles, I had to appear in court in Carlisle and take the day off work and bring my daughter, who was one-and-a-half.”
The offences took place between 2012 and 2017.
Defending, Stuart Neale said Fazal was on medication for depression that was making him fall asleep in the dock.
It was said that his ‘significant health issues’ also included pulmonary heart disorder, sweat attacks, diabetes and two cardiac arrests. He has a monitor fitted that triggers a medical emergency should his heart rate change.
Mr Neale added: “For the most part he was protecting his children, not his own misdemeanours.
“From having been a well-to-do restaurateur he has descended very quickly into a desperate man.
“He bitterly regrets what has taken place.”
In sentencing Recorder Anthony O’Donohue said he had initially been ‘sceptical’ over Fazal’s health claims until he had adjourned to read his medical notes. He said: “This was persistent dishonesty. I am satisfied the defendant’s medical condition is genuine. It is this and this alone that saves the defendant [from prison].”
A two-year driving ban was imposed, although it was said Fazal does not now drive anyway. Pc Vaughan Sherrah-Davies, from the road crime unit, said: “Not only has this scam caused unnecessary stress and inconvenience for those implicated, but it completely undermines the prosecution system.”