Khizer Ali was doing 62mph in a 30 zone moments before smashing into couple’s car
A learner driver who killed a grandmother and left her husband with life-changing injuries after a head-on crash in Worcestershire has been jailed for 11 years and three months.
Khizer Ali, 24, had no full driving licence or insurance when he took his mum’s VW Golf and ploughed into a car carrying 65-year-old Valerie Ayres and her husband David, 70. Mrs Ayres was killed instantly. Her husband was seriously injured.
Reckless journey captured on dashcam
Ali had earlier been seen driving “at full throttle” around Redditch on April 23 last year. Dashcam footage recorded him reaching 62mph in a 30mph zone, swerving into the wrong lane under a railway bridge, and narrowly missing another vehicle.
Just seconds before the fatal collision, he sped twice around a roundabout ignoring road markings, then accelerated hard onto the Alvechurch Highway where the crash occurred.
Ali fled the scene but was later arrested at his home. He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and several related offences.
Victim was ‘killed instantly’
Valerie and David Ayres had just picked up their grandson and were on their way home when Ali, who had taken the car from his sister, lost control and hit them head-on.
Mr Ayres survived but was left with life-altering injuries. Valerie died at the scene.
Sister also facing sentencing
Ali’s sister, Sanaa Shahzad, 20, admitted giving the car to him and others to drive, despite knowing he was unlicensed and uninsured. She had also been caught on camera driving dangerously earlier that same day.
She has admitted allowing the use of a vehicle without insurance, and refusing to provide her mobile phone PIN under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. She will be sentenced in June.
‘Total disregard for public safety’
Detective Constable Rose Hughes said: “He showed a total disregard for public safety, driving recklessly and selfishly in a car he should never have been behind the wheel of.”
She added that the case should serve as a sobering lesson to anyone considering driving without a licence or ignoring speed limits.
“Ali should never drive again. Offenders like him have no place on our roads,” she said. “And his sister bears responsibility too – she knew full well what could happen, and now a family is devastated as a result.”
