Dmac
05-12-2006, 08:14 PM
Naseem Hamed jailed for car crash
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Former world boxing champion Naseem Hamed has been jailed for dangerous driving after a crash which left another driver severely injured.
Hamed, 32, from Dore in Sheffield, was sentenced to 15 months after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing. He was also given a four-year driving ban.
His £325,000 McLaren-Mercedes crashed at 90mph in Sheffield on 2 May 2005.
The judge criticised the DVLA for refusing to reveal that Hamed had been banned before for driving at 110mph.
The Honorary Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Alan Goldsack, told Hamed: "I find it astonishing that the DVLA has not been prepared to co-operate with the prosecution to give them details of your earlier offences - apparently on human rights grounds."
Anxious to impress
The DVLA's decision led to Hamed being sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday without the judge being told he had previously banned for a year for driving a Porsche at 110mph on the M1 in Derbyshire.
He also had three other previous convictions for speeding offences, details of which the prosecution had to find from court records.
After last May's head-on crash, the driver of the other car, 38-year-old Anthony Burgin, spent weeks in hospital with fractures to "every major bone in his body". His wife Clare was also injured.
The court heard how Hamed had been anxious to impress businessman Asif Ayub, 46, who was a passenger in the McLaren-Mercedes at the time of the crash.
Hamed was showing what his car could do when he crossed a solid white line at a speed of at least 90mph and crashed head-on into a Volkswagen Golf that emerged from a dip in the road.
The court heard Hamed's car then hit a second vehicle, a Ford Mondeo he had been trying to overtake.
'Too serious'
The driver of the Mondeo, Michael Wood, described Hamed's overtaking manoeuvre in court as "stupid, suicide, ridiculous".
Jailing Hamed on Friday, Judge Alan Goldsack said the only possible sentence was custody.
"It is far too serious for anything else", he said. "You could easily have killed Mr Burgin."
Outside court, the Burgins' solicitor, Jane Wright, said the couple were "extremely relieved" by the sentence.
She said: "People must never underestimate the amount of damage done to people's lives through driving dangerously on the roads."
Hamed's solicitor, Steve Smith, said he was "very disappointed" with the result and said he did not think Hamed's celebrity status had been an advantage.
Credit - BBC
http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/9172/41400545naseemwife2036xm.jpg
Former world boxing champion Naseem Hamed has been jailed for dangerous driving after a crash which left another driver severely injured.
Hamed, 32, from Dore in Sheffield, was sentenced to 15 months after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing. He was also given a four-year driving ban.
His £325,000 McLaren-Mercedes crashed at 90mph in Sheffield on 2 May 2005.
The judge criticised the DVLA for refusing to reveal that Hamed had been banned before for driving at 110mph.
The Honorary Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Alan Goldsack, told Hamed: "I find it astonishing that the DVLA has not been prepared to co-operate with the prosecution to give them details of your earlier offences - apparently on human rights grounds."
Anxious to impress
The DVLA's decision led to Hamed being sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday without the judge being told he had previously banned for a year for driving a Porsche at 110mph on the M1 in Derbyshire.
He also had three other previous convictions for speeding offences, details of which the prosecution had to find from court records.
After last May's head-on crash, the driver of the other car, 38-year-old Anthony Burgin, spent weeks in hospital with fractures to "every major bone in his body". His wife Clare was also injured.
The court heard how Hamed had been anxious to impress businessman Asif Ayub, 46, who was a passenger in the McLaren-Mercedes at the time of the crash.
Hamed was showing what his car could do when he crossed a solid white line at a speed of at least 90mph and crashed head-on into a Volkswagen Golf that emerged from a dip in the road.
The court heard Hamed's car then hit a second vehicle, a Ford Mondeo he had been trying to overtake.
'Too serious'
The driver of the Mondeo, Michael Wood, described Hamed's overtaking manoeuvre in court as "stupid, suicide, ridiculous".
Jailing Hamed on Friday, Judge Alan Goldsack said the only possible sentence was custody.
"It is far too serious for anything else", he said. "You could easily have killed Mr Burgin."
Outside court, the Burgins' solicitor, Jane Wright, said the couple were "extremely relieved" by the sentence.
She said: "People must never underestimate the amount of damage done to people's lives through driving dangerously on the roads."
Hamed's solicitor, Steve Smith, said he was "very disappointed" with the result and said he did not think Hamed's celebrity status had been an advantage.
Credit - BBC