Driver jailed for 'carjacking' lie after two seriously injured in crash

Waqar Khan, aged 19, initially told officers he had been the victim of a carjacking and was not driving the vehicle when it hit two men in Birmingham earlier this year. The collision took place on Adderley Road, near the junction with Alum Rock Road, in Saltley, at around 7.20pm on January 12.

Two men, aged 34 and 29, had got off a bus and started to cross the road when they were hit by the Seat Ibiza.

The car failed to stop but the front registration plate came off and was left behind at the scene. The two men needed hospital treatment for serious injuries but have now made a full recovery.

Twenty minutes after the crash, Khan’s father Fazil Khan rang the police, saying his son had been carjacked in Arden Road. Then, around 30 minutes after the collision, the suspect called 999 from an address in Arden Road and reported he had been dragged from the Ibiza in a carjacking.

Admitted

He gave officers a number for his mobile phone, which he said had also been stolen – but later admitted one digit was incorrect. But phone record checks showed Khan had called his father from that number seven minutes after the alleged theft of his car and phone.

Waqar Khan, of Finnemore Road, in Bordsley Green, Birmingham, admitted perverting the course of justice when he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court and was jailed for six months.

Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes, from West Midlands Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “The manner of the suspect’s driving isn’t really in question here – there was no evidence to support charges of dangerous or even careless driving.

“But it is clear the suspect lied to police saying his vehicle had been stolen, when he was in fact the driver at the time of the collision.

“These lies led to valuable police time and resources being wasted.

“The vehicle has never been recovered and Khan never explained where it is.”