Speeding driver who killed jogger in Battersea faces jail if he returns to UK from Pakistan

A speeding driver who jumped a traffic light and hit a jogger will face five years in prison if he ever returns to the UK from Pakistan.

Rashid Ali, 30, was going twice the 20mph speed limit when his Range Rover Sport struck marketing executive Jack Patrick Ryan near Battersea Bridge in west London.

Mr Ryan, 29, suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene.

Ali, 30, failed to attend his Old Bailey trial and was convicted in his absence of causing death by dangerous driving.

Barrister James Scobie KC previously read out an email in which the defendant relayed his “great stress” and “anxiety” and apologised to “everyone he had let down”.

Ali wrote: “I feel very ashamed of myself and have assassinated my own character”, and vowed to return to Britain to face any prison sentence.

However, Ali’s sentence hearing was told that he remains in Pakistan.

He stated that he does intend to return at some point to serve his sentence. I am unable to accept that assurance

Sentencing Khan to five years in prison, as well as a five-and-a-half year driving ban, Judge Judy Khan said that she had received a letter from the defendant.

“He stated that he does intend to return at some point to serve his sentence,” she said.

“I am unable to accept that assurance.”

CCTV footage of the collision showed Mr Ryan was struck and thrown into the air before landing on the front of the Range Rover on Battersea Bridge on the evening of January 13 2021.

The surface of the road had been wet and the defendant had been travelling at speeds of between 39mph and 41mph in the 20mph zone, prosecutor Philip Stott said.

When Ali’s vehicle was about 50 metres away from the traffic lights they had changed from green to amber, which would have given him time to stop, jurors heard.

Following the collision, the defendant claimed Mr Ryan had run across the road in front of his car, leaving him no time to apply the brakes, the court heard.

However, Mr Stott said that the Highway Code clearly stated that an amber light required a driver to stop at the stop line.

A driver could only continue if the amber light appeared after the vehicle had crossed the stop line or if pulling up might cause an accident.

Mr Stott said: “There was no other vehicle travelling so close behind Mr Ali’s car that it might cause an accident if he were to stop at the amber light in the normal way.

“He had plenty of time to stop safely, and he was therefore obliged to do so by the rules of the road.

“Instead, the defendant broke those rules and, in doing so, caused the death of Mr Ryan.”

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