Luton man jailed for injuring two women after crashing car into wall in Clophill

Shamsher Singh, 31, of Brooms Road, Luton, pleaded guilty to two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving after failing to stop for police in Bedford in June 2018.

In the early hours of 23 June, Singh was driving through Bedford in a silver Peugeot when he was spotted driving above the speed limit and the wrong way in a one-way street by police on patrol.

When the police vehicle turned around to stop him, he made off from the officers.

The police vehicle followed him through the streets of Bedford and onto the A6, leading to Clophill.

Officers lost sight of Singh shortly before he crashed the vehicle into a wall in High Street, where he was thought to be driving at 90mph in a 30mph zone.

When officers reached the crashed vehicle, Singh was seen running away from the scene into a nearby field, leaving two seriously injured young women in the car behind.

Officers assisted the victims of the collision when they noticed that the vehicle was on fire and filling up with smoke. They extinguished the flames and called for an ambulance and additional police support.

Singh, who escaped from the crash largely unscathed, was hiding in the woods in Clophill when he was tracked down by a Police Dog Kobi and arrested by his handler.

In their testimony, the victims told the court that they had pleaded for Singh to stop for the police, and that they were so terrified they considered jumping out of the moving vehicle.

Yesterday (Thursday) at Luton Crown Court, Singh was sentenced to 28 months for each count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, with the sentences to run concurrently.

He was also issued with a 14 month community order following his prison sentence and a three-year driving ban, which will be followed by an extended re-test.

PC Chris Leah, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit, said: “Singh purposefully attempted to make off from police, putting his passengers at risk. He ignored their pleas to stop when he was driving erratically through the streets of our county.

“He avoided serious injury in the crash, but his passengers weren’t as lucky. He not only failed to call for help following the crash, he fled the scene leaving the victims trapped and vulnerable in a burning vehicle.

“Following his arrest he admitted his wrongdoing and spared the victims the trauma of going through a trial.

“The victims of this horrendous crash will have to live with physical and mental scars for the rest of their lives. Hopefully this sentence will bring some closure and sense of justice to them and help them move on."