Drug-run driver sobs as he is jailed for maiming joggers
A LAW student mowed down two women joggers in his car after ignoring a driving ban to work as a drugs courier.
Mohammed Qasim, 22, had taken cannabis and was carrying 10 packs of heroin when he lost control of his Ford Fiesta.
He wept yesterday as his victims Jessica Sammon, 25, and Laura Hodgson, 23, showed their injuries to a judge and told him how the crash had blighted their lives.
One needs a brace on her badly fractured knee and lower leg while the other still has nightmares.
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You should never have been in that car
They believe they are lucky to be alive.
At Bolton Crown Court, Judge Graeme Smith told Qasim: “You should never have been in that car and would have known full well what you were doing.”
Qasim, of Bolton, a student at the University of Central Lancashire, told police he agreed to work as a drug courier to pay his fees.
The crash in March was eight months after he had been banned for 12 months for driving while disqualified and having no insurance.
As the car approached a left turn, it carried straight on into the group from Burnden Road Runners.
Duncan Wilcock, prosecuting, said: “Both women were sent into the air. Miss Sammon was screaming in constant pain with significant injuries.’’
Police found 10 packages of heroin in the car worth about £500 and £807 in cash.
Qasim admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and possessing heroin. He was jailed for four?and-a-half years and banned from driving for seven years.
