Convicted drug dealer and YouTuber, 25, who films himself racing high-performance cars, weaving in and out of traffic and ignoring red traffic lights on busy roads is jailed for 27 months
- Adeel Habib, 25, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, ran the Certi Drivers channel
- But the YouTuber had come to police attention after attending illegal car meets
- They collected evidence of his dangerous driving from his own clips showing off
- He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and rare encouraging dangerous driving
A YouTuber who filmed himself driving performance cars dangerously and at high speed on busy public roads has been jailed.
On-line star Adeel Habib, 25, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, ran the Certi Drivers channel which has more than 68,000 subscribers.
Clips showed him driving a range of expensive motors dangerously on roads, including at excessive speeds, weaving in and out of traffic, racing other drivers, and ignoring red traffic lights.
He came to police attention during illegal car meets in Leeds and West Yorkshire that were attracting large numbers of people from across the region to industrial estates, retail parks and the road network.
Operations involving roads policing officers and other specialist resources were put in place to disrupt and deter the Sunday evening events that generally started from Habib’s Certi Touch workshop, in Florence Street, Harehills.
The neighbourhood policing officers pored over hours of online videos posted by Habib to build up an evidential picture of his own dangerous driving and its ability to encourage others to follow his bad example.
Adeel Habib, 25, from Leeds, West Yorkshire, ran the Certi Drivers channel featuring the clips
Police collected evidence of his dangerous driving from his own clips showing off online
Today he pleaded guilty to both dangerous driving and a relatively rare offence of encouraging dangerous driving under the Serious Crime Act 2007.
The offences were committed between December 2020 and October 2021.
While under investigation for the driving offences, Habib was sentenced to four years imprisonment for his part in a drugs supply conspiracy.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and an offence of doing an act which was capable of encouraging or assisting dangerous driving, intending to encourage or assist in its commission.
The heartstopping videos showed some terrifying speeds and frightening moves in them
They appeared to be filmed from the back of the car by a person unknown and not named
He appeared at Leeds Crown Court by videolink yesterday and was sentenced to 27 months and was disqualified from driving.
Inspector Richard Horn, who heads the Leeds North-East Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: ‘Habib has been shown to be someone who regularly engaged in dangerous driving on public roads with all the potential risk of harm to other road users that accompanies such appalling behaviour.
‘He was absolutely shameless about it and showed utter contempt for law-abiding road users and the law by regularly posting videos of his antics to impress his many followers.
‘Those videos and the notoriety that surrounded his ‘brand’ clearly had the ability to influence others to flout road traffic laws and put other road users at risk, and he was rightly charged with an offence that specifically recognised that aspect of his behaviour.
‘His own arrogance was his downfall in that those videos provided us with a rich seam of material to present to the court and have him answer for his actions.
‘We hope his conviction and the sentence he has received will provide some source of reassurance to the public who I am sure will have been horrified by his dangerous driving and glamourising of it.
‘It should also send a very clear message to those who think they can take part in and promote criminal behaviour in this way without having to face the consequences.’
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