Death-crash liars are sent to prison
Reporter: Marina Berry
Date published: 20 December 2010
THREE men who were involved in a fatal car crash which killed two people on a Saddleworth road have been jailed.
The trio were sent to prison after lying about who was driving the car which somersaulted and landed on its roof at the side of the Isle of Skye road to Holmfirth in September, last year.
Adeel Tarar (19), of Adswood, was jailed for three-and-a-half years and banned from driving for five years.
He admitted, at an earlier hearing at Manchester Crown Court, two charges of causing death by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice.
Fakhar Ahmed (38), of Heaton Moor, and Zairat Ali Hassankhel (18), of Longsight, both admitted perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing.
Ahmed was jailed for six months and Hassenkhel was sent to prison for four months.
Muhammed Zeeshan (19) and Noorullah Zaeer (20), died when a green Honda Accord overturned numerous times and landed on its roof in the 4am crash.
Tarer, Ahmed and Hassankhel managed to get out of the car and were being treated by paramedics when police arrived.
Ahmed told an officer he was the owner and was driving the car at the time, and his story was backed up by Hassankhel and Tarar.
Ahmed was originally arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
Over the next few days, detailed statements were taken from all three men and the trio agreed they were going out to celebrate Eid and that Ahmed has lost control of the car when he saw a sheep on the road, causing the crash.
Meanwhile, officers made extensive inquiries to identify Zeeshan and Zaeer as neither had any relatives in the UK.
A week after the crash, a police family liaison officer received information that Ahmed had admitted to a family member that he had not been driving at the time.
Ahmed was re-interviewed and admitted Tarar was driving and that he had been asked to lie because Tarar was scared.
When officers went to arrest Tarar on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, they found he had gone to Pakistan.
Exhaustive inquiries were made with numerous international agencies until Tarar eventually handed himself in in December, 2009.
During his interview he admitted being the driver.
Insp Martin O’Connor said after the case: “I would like to pay tribute to all the officers involved in this highly challenging case, and the family liaison officer who worked tirelessly to try and identify the two people who were killed.
He said: “Scared about what might happen to him, Tarar convinced his friend to lie for him and together the three men concocted a tissue of lies.
“Between the time of the collision and when officers arrived, they had ample time to come up with this story.
“It was incredibly disrespectful to the memories of the two men who died not to own up to what happened.”
"But when the reality of what happened sunk in, things quickly unravelled and Tarar was revealed as the driver.”
Insp O’Connor added: "This was largely due to the hard work and persistence of the investigating officers .
"By taking such early accounts from all three men, when the truth emerged they had no choice but to admit their guilt.”
