'Horrific' driver who killed soldier in Oldbury loses plea for ban reduction
A banned driver who killed a soldier after speeding through a red light should be kept off the roads for many years, top judges have ruled.
Kasim Mohammed, of Bearwood Road, Smethwick, slammed into Adam Hancox's Ford Ka on the Wolverhampton Road, Oldbury, in November 2014.
He admitted causing death by dangerous driving at Wolverhampton Crown Court and was jailed for 10 years and banned for 12 years last year.
Yesterday Mohammed claimed at the Court of Appeal in London that the ban was too long and should be reduced to seven years.
But Lord Justice Gross rejected this – citing 27-year-old Mohammed's 'horrific' driving – but cut the disqualification by one year to take account of time served in prison before he was sentenced.
He said Mohammed had a long record of driving offences and had been banned on multiple occasions.
The smash which killed Mr Hancox, a 26-year-old with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, happened after Mohammed had been driving erratically and went through the red light at 60mph in a 40mph zone, killing Mr Hancox immediately.
The judge said: "The driving which caused the death involved a total disregard for the danger it posed to others.
"His driving was horrific, as were the consequences."
Mohammed's lawyers had argued it was wrong to ban him until he is 39 years old, when he will be out of prison and on licence by the age of 31.
It could make it more difficult for him to rehabilitate when back in the community, it was argued.
But Lord Justice Gross, sitting with Mr Justice William Davis and Judge Gregory Dickinson QC, said the public needs protection from his driving.
"He has an appalling record of driving offences, which suggests a complete failure to learn from experience and a wholesale disregard for the law," the judge said.
"Put bluntly, he should not be on the road for many years."
