A driver who hit a 17-year-old boy at around 100mph on a Bradford road, severing his leg before fleeing and attempting to conceal his damaged Mercedes, has been jailed for three years and four months.
Mohammed Khan, 25, struck the teenager on Halifax Road near Tesco at around 8.20pm on 16 September 2024 as the boy crossed the road with a friend.
Bradford Crown Court heard Khan was driving a Mercedes A45 at approximately 100mph despite the road having a 30mph speed limit.
The victim’s friend managed to run clear of the approaching Mercedes but heard a bang as the 17-year-old was struck.
Prosecutor Joel Wootten said the friend immediately went to help and initially believed the teenager’s leg had become tucked underneath his body.
He then realised the leg was missing and could also see exposed bones in his friend’s injured right hand.
A police officer who had noticed the Mercedes travelling at excessive speed shortly before the collision arrived to find the teenager lying in the road with his left leg amputated.
The boy remained conscious and was able to tell those helping him that he had been hit by a car. His severed leg was subsequently discovered approximately 100 yards away.
A woman who stopped to assist heard the teenager say: “Please don’t let me die.”
Three witnesses described feeling the force of the Mercedes as it passed them and estimated it had been travelling at around 100mph, a speed later confirmed during the investigation.
Khan did not remain at the scene.
He continued driving with a male passenger before stopping approximately two miles away. The court heard the pair got out and inspected damage to the Mercedes using a torch.
Khan then removed and disposed of the vehicle’s number plates and placed other items in a bin.
He contacted a vehicle removal company and arranged for the Mercedes to be transported to Saddiq Way, where it was concealed in a garden.
Khan, of Donisthorpe Street in Eccleshill, handed himself in at a police station the following day.
The teenager was treated at the scene before being taken to Leeds General Infirmary.
He underwent approximately 12 hours of surgery following the amputation of his leg below the waist and also required skin grafts after his hand was de-gloved.
His injuries resulted in him spending four-and-a-half months in hospital.
In a victim impact statement read to Bradford Crown Court, the teenager’s mother described his injuries as “horrific” and said there had been a prolonged period when his family did not know whether he would survive.
She described watching her son crying in pain as “horrible and heartbreaking”.
The court heard the teenager has subsequently suffered from depression, is emotionally different following the collision and has had his confidence “shattered”.
His mother said the consequences had affected the entire family, adding: “I don’t know if we will ever recover.”
Khan pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice.
John Bottomley, mitigating, told the court Khan felt “strong remorse” and had written to both the court and the victim’s family.
He said Khan had continued thinking about the teenager in the period since the collision, felt terrible about what had happened and wanted an opportunity to apologise to him face-to-face.
The court also considered Khan’s previous driving history.
Five months after the Halifax Road collision, Khan was convicted of dangerous driving involving a stolen vehicle. He received a suspended sentence and a two-year driving ban.
He had also been convicted in 2023 of speeding and driving without due care and attention after accelerating away from police and colliding with a parked car.
Police subsequently found him at his home removing the number plates from his vehicle.
Recorder Paul Reid said that behaviour “appears to be in character for you” and described the consequences of the Bradford collision as “catastrophic for all concerned”.
The judge said Khan’s Mercedes had been travelling at an “extraordinary speed” and that he had made no attempt to brake or manoeuvre to avoid the two teenagers.
Addressing Khan, Recorder Reid said: “The force with which you hit this boy was apparent from the injuries caused to him and the damage to the Mercedes.
“You knew what had happened.
“You knew who you had hit when you drove on, leaving this boy in the road.”
Recorder Reid described the case as “one of the worst – if not THE worst – offences of dangerous driving that I have ever encountered” and called the speed involved “chilling”.
Khan was sentenced to 34 months in prison for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
A further six-month sentence for perverting the course of justice will run consecutively, taking his total prison term to 40 months.
He was also disqualified from driving for six years and eight months and will have to pass an extended re-test before he can legally drive again.
Khan’s passenger, Mohammed Fiaz Amin, 34, of South Parrotshot, Magdalene, Edinburgh, denies perverting the course of justice. He is due to stand trial on 3 August 2028.