Shameless taxi driver who boasted to his passengers about being pulled over for speeding
A speeding taxi driver who killed a pedestrian just 16 minutes after being let off with a warning by police over his driving was jailed for almost seven years yesterday.
Shakoor Ahmed, 46, was told by a judge he had behaved with 'gross arrogance' on the roads on the night he crashed into 32-year-old landscape gardener Dan Beames.
Moments earlier, Ahmed had been carrying a passenger when he was pulled in by two police officers who gave him a formal warning for speeding.
The officers had charitably decided not to charge him with the offence because of the impact a conviction might have on his sixteen-year taxi driving career.
In bodycam footage released after the sentencing, an officer let Ahmed off with a warning, after telling him: 'Just don't do it again. I don't want you or anyone else to get hit or hurt.
Shakoor Ahmed, 46, smashed into a pedestrian minutes after being pulled over by police for speeding, a court heard
Ahmed killed landscape gardener Dan Beames, 32 (pictured) after mowing him down while driving at 100mph on a bypass
Footage showed Ahmed being warned by an officer just moments before the tragic incident
'I've been to far too many nasty accidents in my time, and that (his driving) was silly.'
But Gloucester Crown Court heard that Ahmed did not heed the warning - in fact, he boasted about it to his next two passengers when he picked them up at Gloucester Bus station and drove them to Cheltenham in his Toyota Prius taxi.
Driving at 100mph along a bypass between the two locations, the court heard he was still doing 53mph on a 40mph road in the town when he hit Mr Beames, who was crossing the road with a newly purchased box of beer under his arm to enjoy with friends.
Ahmed could not avoid him and the pedestrian suffered catastrophic brain injuries.
Mr Beames' mother, Yvette White and his partner Jessica Beames, a paramedic who has since changed her surname to his, both read emotional statements to the judge describing the devastation his loss had caused to them and the rest of his family.
READ MORE: Speeding taxi driver killed pedestrian just 16 minutes after police flagged him down and warned him over his driving - but decided to let him go with a warningAdvertisement
Mrs White, a financial administrator, said the death of youngest of her three children was the second tragedy to hit her because she had lost a daughter in 2020 - and she herself had then been diagnosed with cancer.
She said he has been on anxiety medications since the tragedy, she does not sleep properly any more, and she keeps thinking of her last image of him in hospital with his life ebbing away.
'I could accept his death if it was a total accident but my son's life was taken away by a taxi driver's dangerous driving and that I can't accept,' she added. 'He only had one job to do and he failed.
'This man not only took my son's life, he destroyed mine as well.'
She said she is no longer able to face driving along Lansdown Road, Cheltenham, where the collision happened, and she has to plan detours to avoid it.
Paramedic Jessica Beames told the court she was on duty and at Great Western Hospital in Swindon - ironically, with a head injury casualty - when she heard the news of the collision from her control room.
She went straight to Bristol, still in uniform, to be with Mr Beames, she said.
'I kissed him and told him I was there and I loved him and I would stay until the end, whatever the outcome might be. I signed the consent form for neurological surgery but post-surgery I was told he had 'almost a zero percent chance of recovery' - words that I will remember for the rest of my life. It was earth shattering.'
She said she has no longer been able to work as a frontline paramedic as a result of the trauma of Dan's death. Ahmed, of Gloucester, pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mr Beames by dangerous driving on 17th Dec 2021.
His barrister, Catherine Spedding, said he was 'genuinely remorseful', adding: 'He clearly appreciates the effects because he has four children himself. He lives with his parents and cares for them. It is a family responsibility he has willingly taken on.'
Jailing Ahmed for six years and ten months, Judge Rupert Lowe said the defendant had been driving at speed in a 'hazard-rich environment' after a Gloucester Rugby Club match when he was stopped by police.
The judge told him: 'Pc Dougall thought you were driving dangerously fast and you had to swerve to narrowly miss a parked car. You said you were in a hurry and you said 'I know, I cannot defend my speed.'
'You also made a flippant remark that recent damage to your vehicle was caused by you driving too slowly and that was stupidity. You did not take the issue of speed seriously even when you had paying passengers on board.'
Dan Beames (pictured) was crossing the road with a box of beer to enjoy with friends when he was run over by Ahmed. He died after suffering catastrophic brain injuries
The court heard the police officer issued Ahmed a warning notice under Section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002, which the judge said was 'appropriate in the light of the facts'.
He added: 'Pc Dougall was not in possession of a crystal ball. He was no more able than any other human being to foresee events. It was humane and responsible decision taking.'
The judge said Mr Beames' 'judgement might have been impaired and he may have been distracted by speaking on his phone but there is insufficient evidence to make any judgement on that.'
The judge pointed out that if Ahmed had been driving at the 40mph limit there was only a 30 percent chance of Mr Beames being killed. But at his speed of 53mph the chance of fatality was 80 percent.
'This was the most awful waste of a young life,' he said.
Ahmed would have to take an extended driving test before being allowed on the road again after his five year, five month disqualification, the judge added.
Collision investigator Nigel Davies said after the sentencing: 'To be stopped by police, most motorists would heed that warning and reflect on their driving but it was no deterrent to Ahmed.
'His selfish actions have led to the tragic death of this young man, putting Daniel's family through needless heartache and suffering.'
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