A JUDGE was forced to reduce the prison sentence he had just imposed for one of the worst cases of dangerous driving he had heard in Bradford because his hands were tied by new legal guidelines.

Akaash Hussain caused three vehicles to crash during a lengthy police pursuit at up to 80mph around the Great Horton area of the city at 7.30pm on July 20.

The high speed chase ended when his silver VW Passat struck a car on Legrams Lane, injuring a PhD student, and ploughed into metal railings and a wall.

Although Hussain, 21, of Halifax Road, Hightown, Liversedge, was arrested from his crashed vehicle, he still had to be given a third off his sentence for an early guilty plea, his barrister Chloe Hudson told Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Jonathan Rose had originally sentenced Hussain to 21 months imprisonment for dangerous driving, plus 14 months to run consecutively for breach of a suspended sentence for selling cannabis. He was banned from driving for 41 months.

But Miss Hudson came back into court to tell Judge Rose that Hussain must get a third knocked off the two year maximum sentence for dangerous driving after new guidelines came into force on June 1. Judge Rose reduced the 21 month sentence to 16 months and cut the driving ban to 38 months, making a total sentence of imprisonment of two and a half years.

“The court’s hands are somewhat restricted,” he said.

Prosecutor Paul Nicholson had earlier told the court that Hussain had no licence or insurance to drive the Passat. Police officers saw him speeding down Laisteridge Lane on the wrong side of a traffic island before ignoring a Give Way sign.

During a chase that included Great Horton Road, Woodhead Road, Shearbridge Road and Legrams Lane, Hussain had to brake heavily several times to avoid smashing into other vehicles. He went on the wrong side of the road and almost lost control of the car several times. He cut across oncoming traffic and two cars collided trying to avoid him. Hussain pleaded guilty at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates Court to dangerous driving and having no licence or insurance and was committed the crown court for sentence.

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Faizu Edu, the driver of the red car Hussain hit before he crashed into railings, said in a statement read to the court that he suffered a head injury, memory loss and injuries when his chest hit the steering wheel. He was treated in Leeds General Infirmary and was still unable to drive. He was also not able to continue his PhD studies.

Hussain had a previous conviction for battery and he was in breach of a 14 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, imposed in November last year for supplying cannabis. The court heard he had done only two hours of the 200 hour unpaid work requirement.

Miss Hudson said Hussain had married a month ago and his wife was pregnant. He had been working at a car parts shop but that job had now gone.

Judge Rose told him: “You have little but contempt for the law and the system in which the law is enforced.”

It was “luck or indeed a miracle” that no one was more seriously injured that evening.

“This city is blighted by bad driving by men without a licence or insurance who think it is permissible to drive,” Judge Rose said, adding: “This is amongst the worst cases of dangerous driving I have ever come across.”