Uninsured driver who killed 12-year-old girl in horror road crash before fleeing scene with her boyfriend and lying to police about who was behind the wheel is jailed for 18 months
- Sana Patel was thrown from the car after Hannah Jones lost control at 90mph
- Jones has since been jailed for 18 months for the incident
A 12-year-old girl was thrown from her parents car and killed by a careless uninsured driver who caused a 90mph crash and then fled the scene with her boyfriend before they both lied about who was responsible.
Sana Patel was thrown from her family car’s when Hannah Jones lost control of Safeer Iqbal’s Vauxhall Corsa, and caused the the Patel’s Nissan Qashqai to spin and overturn on the M61 near Chorley in July 2019.
The Blackburn girl, who was described by her family as friendly and cheerful, was pronounced dead at the scene but Jones and Iqbal had already fled on foot and were ringing for a taxi to take them back to West Yorkshire.
For months, they attempted to lie and pretend that Iqbal was the driver rather than Jones but today at Preston Crown court, the pair were each jailed for their part, Jones for 18 months and Iqbal for eight months.
The court heard that the pair had been at a party earlier in the night and despite not being insured, Jones had decided to drive as Iqbal had been drinking.
Hannah Jones was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for two years
Safeer Iqbal was jailed for eight months and banned from driving for a year
Whilst inside the car, he made a Facetime call to a friend who could see that he was in the passenger seat and was carrying a bottle of vodka in one hand and the phone in the other.
Witnesses on the motorway reported seeing the car being driven erratically, both at high and low speeds.
One motorist, Jane Monaghan, said she passed the car when it was being driven at around 65mph in the middle lane with no other vehicles on the inside lane.
Soon after as she neared Rivington Services, it passed back past her at a speed estimated to be around 95mph.
She caught up with the car again as it passed a lorry before suddenly and inexplicably applying the brakes and another driver reported seeing the Vauxhall being driven at 90mph in the middle lane.
Mr Patel, Sana’s father, told police he was driving at around 68mph to 70mph and only saw the Vauxhall for the first time in the moments it came careering towards his car.
‘We are dealing with losing our daughter and the life she would have enjoyed’
In a victim statement read to court by Mr Kellet, Sana’s mum described her as a friendly and cheerful girl who was always smiling and had a zest for life.
She said the ‘unimaginably violent’ way their daughter was taken from them has left the family suffering from sleepless nights, nightmares, and flashbacks, while it feels like the ‘light in their lives’ has been taken away.
Mrs Patel said Sana loved art and dreamed of working as a fashion director or another creative job.
‘We are still dealing with losing not just our dearest daughter, but the life she would have had, the life and future she would have had enjoyed,’ she said.
Prosecuting, Mark Kellett, explained that Jones had lost control while steering, with the car quickly moving from the outside lane to crash into the Patel family’s Qashqai on the inside lane.
That sent the car spinning, causing it to overturn and tragically leading to Sana’s death.
Crash investigators said the damage caused to the vehicles indicated that Jones was driving at around 90mph at the point of impact.
Mr Patel recalled the panic of the aftermath as he couldn’t see his daughter in the car anymore as the 12-year-old, who had not been wearing a seatbelt, had been thrown out of the vehicle.
At 11.07pm, the same minute that Sana was pronounced dead, Iqbal was calling a Chorley taxi firm for a ride. Once inside the cab, he was told it would cost £170 to get back to Yorkshire and instead asked to go to the Premier Inn on Moss Lane where the pair spent the night before checking out early in the morning. Days later, Jones was arrested at her home and Iqbal handed himself into a police station but both insisted that he was driving.
Mr Kellet said that the positioning of Jones’ injuries clearly indicated that she had been wearing the seatbelt on the driver’s side but when asked about this, she told officers: ‘I don’t know, I’ve got loads. It could have been from last week.’ Months later, Iqbal admitted he was not the driver in a second police interview.
Jones maintained it was not her but eventually changed her plea when a trial was due to begin.
That day, the CPS indicated it would accept a charge of causing death by careless driving rather than the more serious ‘by dangerous driving’.
Jones admitted that offence as well as changing her plea on a charge of perverting the course of justice. Iqbal had already admitted that offence at his first hearing.
Following the incident emergency services rushed to the scene on the M61 in Lancashire
The court heard that Iqbal has previous convictions for driving offences and a public order offence as well as for an offence of controlling and coercive behaviour in relation to Jones. This related to a period after the fatal crash. Jones has one previous conviction for driving while double the alcohol limit and without insurance – that offence took place in March 2021.
Defending Jones, Richard English said she was an inexperienced driver at the time of the offence and had matured a lot since causing the child’s death aged 23. He said she wanted to receive her punishment.
READ MORE: 12-year-old girl dies and five others are hurt in horrific hit-and-run
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Jones, who cried as details of the case and the victim impact statement were read out, is now in a stable relationship and employment and had made arrangements for her son to be looked after during the imprisonment which she accepted was inevitable.
Defending Iqbal, Luis Canosa said his client had panicked after the collision but regretted running away and was remorseful that lying about who the driver was had delayed the family getting justice.
He said the reason he had initially taken the blame was that he feared the impact on Jones’ son would be greater if she was punished as she is a single mother. He was supported in court by the mother of his own children and they remain in a relationship.
Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland KC said that no sentence could ever take away from the Patel family’s grief and that he was bound by the sentencing guidelines.
He also heavily criticised the 18 month delay in charging Jones and Iqbal as ‘unjustified’ and ‘inexcusable’ and said that would be factored into the sentence.
Jones, of Stocks Bank Road in Mirfield, Yorkshire, was jailed for 18 months and banned from driving for two years. Iqbal, of Lees Holm in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, was jailed for eight months and banned from driving for 12 months.
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