Legal News
Six-year sentence for causing death by dangerous driving and other charges (29 May 2015)
Date: 29/05/2015
A man who boasted about driving a hire car at 142mph has been jailed for six years, after being convicted of causing death by dangerous driving – as well as causing death while unlicensed, causing death while uninsured and dangerous driving.
Manchester Crown Court heard that 19-year-old Addil Haroon from Rochdale claimed that he had driven from Leeds to Rochdale in 11 minutes on the M62 in a hired Audi A6.
Haroon then drove at 80mph on a residential street before being involved in a road crash in which 25-year-old Joseph Brown-Lartey was killed in November 2014.
The scene of the crash at traffic lights was described by police officers as the worst they had ever seen.
Mr Lartey-Brown was pronounced dead at the scene after his car was split in two in the collision at high speed.
The court heard that Haroon had hired the Audi car and then spent several days driving with no licence or insurance.
BBC News reports that on 8 November, he took a photo on his mobile phone as the speedometer reached 142mph.
Haroon then sent a message to a friend saying, “Leeds to Rochdale in 11 mins catch me.”
Hours after the message was sent at about 4.40am on 9 November, Haroon crashed into Mr Brown-Lartey's Audi A5 at the junction of Bury Road and Sandy Lane in Rochdale, cutting his car in half.
After sentencing, Sgt Higgins, of Greater Manchester Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said:
“Haroon's dangerous behaviour put innocent members of the public at risk – and his irresponsible actions have devastated a family.
“He was uninsured, unlicensed and driving dangerously – but he paid no heed and sadly, Joseph paid the price for this.”
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