Three men sentenced after street race which killed man in Cheshire

Three men have been sentenced after they admitted taking part in a street race which resulted in the death of man near Wilmslow.

Osama Saeed, Mohammad Zubair Chaudhry and Asgar Taj were all due to appear at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday 15 December after previously pleading guilty to causing the death of a man by dangerous driving.

However, none of the men appeared in court so they were all sentenced in their absence.

• Saeed, 32, of St Pauls Road, Manningham, Bradford was jailed for 12 years

• Chaudhry, 31 of Kingsway, Cheadle, was sentenced to 10-years and seven months in prison

• Taj, 35, of Heather Grove, Bradford, was also sentenced to 12 years behind bars.

Arrests warrants have been issued for all three men.

• On Friday, Cheshire Police released 'trophy footage' of the groups races, and footage of the devastating scene left by the crash in September 2020.

During the hearing the court was told how the trio all travelled to Cheshire on Tuesday 15 September 2020 to take part in a race.

The victim, 34-year-old Asad Rashid from Bradford, was also part of the group.

Chaudry was driving an Audi R8 and Saeed was in an Audi R3, while Taj and Rashid were riding Suzuki motorbikes.

The group travelled to Cheshire from Manchester along the A34, as they passed under the A555 bridge all four drivers lined up at the traffic lights ready to race.

Video footage obtained from a truck driver showed the group used the traffic lights as a starting flag, racing off as soon as the lights changed. The level of acceleration put the vehicles out of sight within seconds and showed the intent of all four drivers to win the race.

As the group approached the total fitness roundabout at around 10.10pm, they were all unable to deal with the clearly marked oncoming roundabout, all likely focused on beating each other in the race, and all proceeding to collide with the middle of the roundabout.

All four vehicles narrowly missed colliding with innocent members of the public as they traversed the roundabout, it was just by chance that nobody else was injured.

Chaudhry's Audi R8 hit first, tearing off the underside of the engine flying through the roundabout central core to end up 135 meters further down the A34.

The two motorbikes and the Audi RS3 then hit the roundabout at about the same time. Taj and Rashid both became unseated from their bikes as they hit the roundabout.

Taj sustained a number of serious injuries including a included a fracture to his right arm and fractures to his left foot. He has since recovered from the incident.

Rashid was struck by the RS3 as it hit the central reservation becoming trapped by the vehicle, he passed away at the scene as a result of his injuries.

Members of the public stopped at the scene to assist the injured men and as one of them approached Taj as he lay on the roundabout, they noticed he was clearly deleting files from Instagram, before then deleting the app itself in an attempt to destroy evidence.

Following the collision an investigation was launched by the Serious and Complex Collision Investigation Unit at Cheshire Police.

On further examination of the phones, it was found that Chaudhury had an astonishing array of "Trophy videos" on his phone showing him and others known to him driving at unbelievable speeds on roads across the country.

One video showed him driving at 139mph in a 40mph zone on the A34 Kingsway Grange, near to his home address, a built-up area with a school and lots of residential houses.

A further video was found showing Chaudhury driving at 192mph on a motorway, the video also showed him bragging with others while driving his Audi R8. These offences were accepted as matters of dangerous driving by the court and were counted towards his sentence.

Following the sentencing Sergeant Andrew Dennison, of the Serious and Complex Collision Investigation Unit at Cheshire police, said:

“Driving is a privilege, not a right, and it comes with great responsibility to act within the rules laid down when you pass your test.

“The sad death of Asad Rashid that night shows the catastrophic consequences that will happen when these rules are ignored.

“Taj, Chaudhury and Saeed all came to Wilmslow with Rashid knowing they were coming to race on the roads around Cheshire. They drove in a manner that put everyone around them at great risk and the inevitable conclusion of this driving was a serious collision that claimed the life of Rashid.

“The knowledge of the group coming to race and the actions they undertook meant that they were all culpable in the death of Rashid and as a result are all guilty of causing his death by driving dangerously.

“As a result of the selfish and dangerous actions taken that night four families have been torn apart. Rashid is now dead, while Chaudhry, Saeed and Taj have all been handed significant prison sentences.

“None of the men have shown any remorse for their actions, and that fact that they failed to attend the hearing today demonstrates a total lack of accountability.

“While, Rashid was not wholly innocent, he did not deserve to die and if anything can be achieved from this case, I hope it acts as a warning to others and prevents any needless collisions like this from occurring again.”

During the sentencing, His Honour Judge Macadam said that the men had deliberately absconded and that they ‘had done everything they could to avoid the consequences of their actions. He also said that ‘none of the men had accepted their guilt’ and that they were all equally culpable.

In addition to videos of Chaudhry, when searching his phone officers also discovered videos of his brother Mohammad Hussain Chaudhry, racing, and driving dangerously.

As a result of the videos, the 32-year-old, also of Kingsway, Cheadle, was charged with seven counts of dangerous driving and one count of fraud by false representation.

Mohammad Hussain Chaudhry pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving and one count of fraud by false representation, with the remaining charges set to lie on file.

He appeared at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday 27 March 2023 where he was sentenced eight months in prison, ordered to pay £149 victims surcharge and banned from driving from 20 months.