Moment learner driver runs away after killing woman in horror head-on crash – as he’s jailed for 11 years
THIS is the shocking moment an uninsured learner driver runs away after killing a woman in a horror head-on crash.
Dashcam footage shows Khizer Ali smashing his mum’s VW Gold into a Vauxhall Meriva, carrying elderly couple Valerie and David Ayres.
Ali is seen speeding at 59mph in a 40mph zone moments before the fatal crash on the A441 in Redditch, Worcester on April 23 last year.
Mrs Ayres, 65, was killed instantly while her husband suffered horrific life-changing injuries.
Ali admitted a string of offences, including causing death by dangerous driving, at Worcester Crown Court.
On Friday, he was jailed for 11 years and three months and banned from driving for 12-and-a-half years.
The court heard Ali, who only held a provisional licence, had been driving his sister’s car but swapped with her to get into their mother’s Golf.
The car was a Motability scheme vehicle that only his mother and sister were insured on.
Dashcam footage from the Golf captured the moment sister Sanaa Shahzad showed him how to operate the automatic car.
She let him use it while she attended an eyelash appointment after they had swapped cars at a car wash on Hewell Road in Redditch.
During his reckless journey Ali left the car wash where he was clocked on the Golf’s dashcam doing 62mph in a 30mph.
He also had a near miss with a car coming the opposite direction under a railway bridge.
Seconds later, Ali went twice around a roundabout going too fast -ignoring the designated lanes – before hurtling onto the Alvechurch Highway at full throttle.
He finally lost control and careered onto the wrong side of the road where he smashed head-on with Valerie and David’s Vauxhall.
Footage shows him running away from the scene before being arrested at his home a short time later.
Ali’s sister Sanaa Shahzad, 20, admitted two counts of causing or permitting the use of a vehicle without valid insurance or a licence.
She will be sentenced next month.
Detective Constable Rose Hughes, of West Mercia Police, said: “He [Ali] showed a total disregard for the safety of the public when took the car off his sister that day, driving recklessly and dangerously which is exacerbated by the fact he should never have been behind the wheel of this car as he did not hold a full driving licence.
“We hope this sentence and the tragic outcome will teach a sobering lesson about the reason for speed limits and driving regulations to anyone thinking about ever getting behind the wheel without having passed their test or driving in such a thoughtless and selfish manner putting so many people at risk as he did.
“Ali should never be driving again. Offenders like him have no place on our roads.
“His sister Shahzad quite rightly bears some of the responsibility for the outcome of this tragedy too. She should never have leant him the car, especially as she knew he was a learner driver with no insurance.”
Following the sentencing, Mrs Ayres’ devastated family paid tribute to her.
Her husband David said: “Val was the life and soul of the party; we did everything together.
“Val was so bubbly and funny, ‘nuts’ we used to call her, she was always doing stupid things to make people laugh and had a good time wherever we went.
“My life has been turned upside down, I can’t express how much I miss Val and wish the whole thing never happened.
“Val was an amazing woman, the best there was.
“Val stuck by me through thick and thin, and I will love with all my heart for that and more until the day I die.”
The couple’s daughter Lucy added: “My mom was my best friend we always spent time together, people used to remark I have never seen a mother and daughter so close.
“I cannot put into words what this man has taken away not only me, but the rest of the family.
“Every day, I wish I could pick up the phone to hear her voice, share my thoughts and for her to tell me everything is going to be ok.”