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25/02/2009
Labour Life Peer Jailed Over Fatal Crash
A Labour life peer has been jailed for 12 weeks for colliding with another car on a motorway just minutes after he was sending and receiving text messages.
Lord Ahmed, 51, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, which resulted in the death of Slovakian Martyn Gombar, 28, on the M1 near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Christmas day 2007.
Lord Ahmed was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court. He admitted driving dangerously.
Mr Gombar, who was living in Leigh, Lancashire, died when the life peer's Jaguar hit an Audi which had stopped in the fast lane of the motorway.
The Audi had been stationary after it had crashed into the central reservation.
Sheffield Magistrates' heard Lord Ahmed had been texting while driving in the dark at speeds of, and above, 60mph along a 17-mile stretch of the motorway.
The judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, said that the text messaging had finished before the accident took place and was not connected to the fatal incident.
Lord Ahmed's solicitor Steve Smith said the peer was "rendered momentarily unconscious" by the impact of the crash and suffered a very serious head injury.
He also said nothing had happened as a result of his client sending text messages, and added the fatal accident was unconnected.
He said: "This man is not responsible for any accident."
The solicitor said that, despite being told otherwise, his client felt responsible for the death of Mr Gombar.
"He still walks within that shadow and I think he always will," he said.
Lord Ahmed, who will serve half his sentence in jail and half on licence, was also banned from driving for one year.
(JM/BMcC)
Lord Ahmed, 51, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, which resulted in the death of Slovakian Martyn Gombar, 28, on the M1 near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Christmas day 2007.
Lord Ahmed was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court. He admitted driving dangerously.
Mr Gombar, who was living in Leigh, Lancashire, died when the life peer's Jaguar hit an Audi which had stopped in the fast lane of the motorway.
The Audi had been stationary after it had crashed into the central reservation.
Sheffield Magistrates' heard Lord Ahmed had been texting while driving in the dark at speeds of, and above, 60mph along a 17-mile stretch of the motorway.
The judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, said that the text messaging had finished before the accident took place and was not connected to the fatal incident.
Lord Ahmed's solicitor Steve Smith said the peer was "rendered momentarily unconscious" by the impact of the crash and suffered a very serious head injury.
He also said nothing had happened as a result of his client sending text messages, and added the fatal accident was unconnected.
He said: "This man is not responsible for any accident."
The solicitor said that, despite being told otherwise, his client felt responsible for the death of Mr Gombar.
"He still walks within that shadow and I think he always will," he said.
Lord Ahmed, who will serve half his sentence in jail and half on licence, was also banned from driving for one year.
(JM/BMcC)
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