Speeding driver who fled crash is jailed for 15 years

A "CALLOUS and cowardly" speeding driver who fled on foot after crashing a stolen Porsche Cayenne into a family’s car, killing a two-year-old boy and leaving his mother in a coma, has been jailed for more than 15 years.

- STEPHANIE WAREHAM Press Association

Sharjeel Shahzad had already been banned from getting behind the wheel and was awaiting a court date for dangerous driving when he caused the death of a toddler in a head-on smash in Smethwick, West Midlands, just before 11pm on December 14 last year.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard the 30-year-old, of Cooksey Lane, Great Barr, West Midlands, had been driving at speeds of up to 50mph before he overtook a vehicle on approach to a sweeping blind bend on Dartmouth Road and lost control of the powerful high-powered Porsche, which had false plates.

He veered onto the opposite side of the road, into a Toyota Auris being driven by Baljeet Singh, who had been out celebrating a family birthday with his wife and friends that evening.

Also in the car were Amritpal Singh, Kushpreet Kaur and their two-year-old son Shehbaz Singh.