A RECRUITMENT consultant who led police on a near-100mph chase before ditching his car and then claiming it had been stolen has been jailed.

Abdurrahim Mahmood, 26, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and intending to pervert the course of justice as Bradford Crown Court heard he had been “caught by his own dashcam.”

Prosecutor Richard Walters told the court that just after midnight on March 26, police had seen Mahmood driving a silver BMW on Keighley Road in Bradford with his girlfriend and her nephew also in the car.

After he failed to stop, a five-minute pursuit ensued, with Mahmood seen weaving in and out of traffic, ignoring red lights, and forcing motorists to take evasive action at junctions.

Describing one moment of the chase, which took in streets including Ingleby Road, Great Horton Road, and Cemetery Road, Mr Walters said: “Police are doing 98mph and the defendant is still pulling away at that stage.”

After managing to evade officers, Mahmood dumped the car and fled the scene before police arrived and seized the vehicle minutes later.

At 12.24am, Mahmood called police to state that his car had been stolen, claiming he had no knowledge as to how it had been taken.

Later that day, he went to Trafalgar House police station in Bradford to make a statement confirming his false account of events.

Mr Walters told the court that unbeknown to Mahmood, officers had removed his dashcam from the car when it was recovered, which showed the defendant and his passengers in the vehicle.

“He was caught by his own dashcam footage,” said Mr Walters, adding that Mahmood later gave full admissions to police.

Peter Hampton, for Mahmood, of Sherwell Rise, Allerton, Bradford, said his client had “exceptional” mitigating circumstances that could spare him immediate custody.

He said: “The defendant, through recent local press, is aware the court will take a tough stance on this offence.

“But he is not one of those individuals who some say are blighting the streets of Bradford with reckless and dangerous driving in cars which are uninsured and sometimes stolen.

“If he had intended to drive in the manner he did, you can be assured that recording equipment would not have been there.

“He is usually a careful and competent driver. This was an aberration in sheer panic.”

Mr Hampton said that after falsely claiming the car had been stolen, Mahmood requested a voluntary interview with police in which he admitted all offences.

He said he was currently working in recruitment specialising in the aerospace industry, and that an immediate jail sentence would “destroy his career.”

Describing Mahmood’s driving, The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said: “There was a wholesale ignorance of not only the road laws, but you, the passengers in your car, the police, and others. It is a bad case.”

While acknowledging that Mr Hampton had put forward “powerful” mitigation on Mahmood’s behalf, Judge Durham Hall said he could not suspend any jail term due to the gravity of the offence.

He said: “It is a tribute to your normal character that you have a dashcam. But what you said was immediately contradicted by the footage in that dashcam.

“The courts in Bradford will not cease from its efforts to try and deter this prevalent offence.”

Mahmood was jailed for 13 months, and will be banned from driving for two years upon his release.