DNA from airbag after Wakefield motel crash helped catch Afghan refugee driver

Officers chased the VW Golf GTD for eight miles from the M62 at J31 to the Redbeck Motel outside of Wakefield, where the driver crashed in the car park before fleeing on foot along with his passenger.

Having been apprehended a short time later, Afghan refugee Shereen Agha then told police during an interview that he was not even in the car.

But after his DNA matched that found on the safety bag, and it was presented to him during a second interview, he then declined to comment.

Prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court, Fen Greatley-Hirsch said that a patrolling officer tried to pull the Golf over on the evening of August 21 last year, having clocked it travelling at 96mph on the M62 eastbound carriageway.

The car first appeared to look like it was stopping after the officer illuminated his lights, pulling onto the hard shoulder. But it then accelerated away reaching speeds of up to 120mph before pulling off the motorway towards Wakefield.

The driver went though red lights and overtook vehicles on blind bends before he pulled into the motel on Doncaster Road in Crofton, but crashed, deploying the airbags.

After the forensic tests were processed, 27-year-old Agha, of Greenwood Crescent, Warrington, admitted dangerous driving, driving while banned, having no insurance and possession of a Class A drug after police had found a small amount of crack cocaine on him during his arrest.

He appeared in court via video link from HMP Doncaster where he was being held on remand.

The court was told he has eight previous convictions for 22 offences, including drug dealing and motoring offences.

Mitigating, Stephen Swan said that Agha came to the UK when he was around 12 after his family were killed in a devastating fire in Afghanistan. He also suffered extensive burns. He said that that Agha had been in the foster-care system as a child.

The judge, Recorder Alex Menary handed him 16 months’ jail, and banned him from driving for 44 months.