Fatal M62 crash driver accused of A&E ‘ruse’ to avoid court

A woman who killed her friend when she crashed a rented Lamborghini on the M62 has been arrested at hospital after she failed to turn up for sentencing.

Humaira Batool, 26, was due to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court for causing the death of 20-year-old Mohammed Shaan Hussain in 2022 but did not appear.

Her barrister said she had not come to court as she had gone to A&E due to a flare-up of endometriosis, however prosecutor Christopher Dunn said it was “clearly a ruse”.

Judge Ray Singh issued a bench warrant for Batool, saying she was “avoiding being dealt with”. The defendant was later arrested at hospital and taken to court where she was then remanded in custody to be sentenced on Tuesday.

When she arrived in court on crutches, Judge Singh told her that her failure to attend was “unforgivable”.

He said: “It was fairly obvious you weren’t going to attend, from email traffic seen over the weekend.

“For you to have deliberately, in my view, got to a position where you weren’t going to attend this morning is unforgivable. The deceased’s family are here.”