A driver who knocked down and killed a 12-year-old boy in Bradford while trying to flee police was jailed today.

Zain Khan, 21, was driving at up to 84 miles per hour when he struck popular schoolboy Bilal Khizar, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said shortly before 7pm on October 6 last year, Khan had been pulled over by police who were concerned with his driving.

But he accelerated away and soon after struck Bilal, who was crossing the road a short distance away, near Asda in Rooley Lane, Bierley, Bradford.

The impact killed Bilal instantly and smashed Khan’s windscreen, the court heard.

But instead of stopping, Khan sped off. He reached speeds of more than 100 miles per hour and hit another car, before abandoning his vehicle.

The court heard Khan and his passenger, then-girlfriend Sara Marie Hughes, agreed to lie to the police that the car had been stolen earlier that day.

Khan, of Savile Park, Halifax, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to dangerous driving, causing death by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice.

Sentencing him to seven and a half years in prison, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said: “There’s nothing I can do to bring back Bilal and no punishment that I can impose as a judge that can ever satisfy the outrage and anger and I rather suspect the deep grief of the victim’s family.”

Mitigating for Khan, Simon Csoka QC said: “He is appalled at how he behaved. He is appalled at the cowardly way he drove off at speed and had another accident.”

Hughes, 21, formerly of King Cross Road, Halifax, has previously pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. She was released on conditional bail and will next appear in court on March 7.