Hit-and-run crash woman is spared prison (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Hit-and-run crash woman is spared prison

7:00am Friday 15th March 2013 in News By Claire Armstrong, T&A Reporter

A woman who lied to police about a hit-and-run incident which killed a child has been spared jail.

Sara Marie Hughes was a passenger in a “souped-up” car being driven by her then-boyfriend Zain Khan, which hit and killled Bradford schoolboy Bilal Khizar, a court heard.

The tragedy happened last October in Rooley Lane, when Bilal, 12, was making his way home from a friend’s house.

Bradford Crown Court heard instead of stopping, Khan drove off in a dangerous manner and had another car accident further along the route.

The court heard the pair then lied to police that his car had been stolen earlier that day, but Hughes later confessed the truth to the authorities.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said: “It was as a result of her breaking that Khan then decided that discretion was the better part of valour.”

Mitigating, Andrew Dallas said: “She was the one who broke first in interview. This lasted all of 24 hours. She then broke down and told the truth.” He said the mum-of-one, 21, was making efforts to get her life back on track.

Hughes, formerly of King Cross Road, Halifax, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at a previous hearing.

Sentencing, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said: “You had formed a relationship and I am sure an infatuation with the young man who, on the night in question, was driving, with you as passenger, a souped-up car that was involved in the most catastrophic ‘causing death by dangerous driving’ that many of us, including myself, have seen. The video capture of that will scar everybody’s minds for many years.”

He said: “On one hand you were blameless in the tragic circumstances. You were undoubtedly terrified during this hair-raising escapade which killed a 12-year-old but what you did do, which was unforgiveable, was to lie with your boyfriend and pretend to the authorities that the car had been stolen.”

He sentenced Hughes to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, which means she will not go to prison unless she reoffends in that time. He imposed a 12-month supervision order with an activity requirement and also a requirement to live at an address chosen by the prosecution for six months.

Khan, 21, of Savile Park, Halifax, was sentenced on February 8 to seven and a half years in prison for death by dangerous driving, perverting the course of justice and dangerous driving.