Teenager pays brother £9,000 after crashing his VW Golf into stone wall during police chase

Subahaan, now 20, of Skipton Road, Keighley, pleaded guilty to taking a vehicle aggravation on April 8 last year after driving off and leading police on a three-minute chase along of Clark Road.

He was spared an immediate custodial sentence by Recorder Simon Eckersley because he was a hardworking convenience store manager who had stayed out of trouble in the nearly 12 months since he committed the offence.

The court heard that Subahaan fled when police activated his blue lights and sirens ordering him to stop.

He reached speeds of 70 mph in a 20 zone which, as Recorder Eckersley pointed out, was three times the speed limit.

The chase ended when he lost control of the Golf on the wet road surface and crashed into a stone wall.

As a mitigation, it was stated that Subahaan held a full driver’s license and had no previous convictions.

He was very ashamed of his “stupid action” after he panicked when he saw the police behind him.

The court heard he paid his brother £9,000 after destroying the car.

Subahaan was the manager of a corner store owned by family members.

Recorder Eckersley sentenced him to six months in a juvenile facility, suspended for 18 months, with 150 hours of unpaid work.

He was banned from driving for 12 months and until he passed an extended retest.

The recorder said Subahaan took his brother’s new car without his permission on the day it was delivered.

He had driven her “in a terrible manner”, at excessive speed on residential roads.

It was only luck that there were no pedestrians, Recorder Eckersley said.

But Subahaan was a young man with a good job and from a stable family. The offense dates back a year and he had not worried the police or the courts since. Although the case crossed the threshold of detention, the sentence could be suspended.