BIRMINGHAM: A dangerous driver who thought he’d given police the slip after an 80mph pursuit has been jailed for more than a year, thanks to the power of body-worn video. Motorbike patrol officers asked Amjad Ali Khan to pull over when they saw he was trying to avoid them as they passed over the Swan Island along the A45 into Birmingham on 8 April.
But the 37-year-old sped off through a red light, triggering a rare pursuit involving our highly-trained motorbike officers.
He hit speeds of 80mph in a 30mph zone, driving on the wrong side of a dual carriageway against traffic and the wrong way around a roundabout.
According to West Midlands Police, motorists were forced to swerve out of the way to avoid Khan, and the pursuit was eventually abandoned in the interests of public safety. But the officer who spoke to Khan through the passenger window had activated his body-worn video, capturing a crystal clear image of the man behind the wheel and his driving during the pursuit.
Another officer recognised Khan from the image. Days later he was arrested by the officer who had first pursued him. Khan, of Lower Ground Close in Aston, was banned from driving until 2022 at the time.
Khan admitted dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance. He was jailed for 15 months at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday (23 May) and given a further three-year driving ban.
Sgt Ade Brown, of the Central Motorway Policing Group (CMPG), said: “This was great, diligent police work from start to finish. Not only did the officer’s original suspicions around the driver turn out to be well-founded, but he had the foresight to capture a clear image of him which was shared among other officers and led to Khan’s arrest.