The 13 Yorkshire drivers who got behind the wheel and killed
Millions of people up and down the county get behind the wheel of their cars[1] every single day to make their journeys to wherever they need to be.
None can imagine that that journey could be the last they take. Every week, dangerous drivers in our area are hauled before the courts[2] to be sentenced for their crimes[3] which can range from driving with no insurance to causing death by dangerous driving.
All of the people featured in this list have been sentenced in the last year for taking someone’s life through their driving. Some have been handed lengthy sentences – including teenager Jack Simpson who caused the death of three people in a crash on the M606. Some have been made the subjects of a community order, including Derek Whitworth whose driving claimed the life of Sonya Majid.
Mohammad Abdullah
![Mohammad Abdullah [pictured] has been jailed for causing the death of Sean Crowley](https://i2-prod.examinerlive.co.uk/incoming/article27308913.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_Custody-Mohammed-ABDULLAH.jpg)
Mohammad Abdullah [pictured] has been jailed for causing the death of Sean Crowley (Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Abdullah had been captured on CCTV stopping his Vauxhall Insignia to eat a takeaway and almost crashed into parked cars before he mounted a pavement and colliding with pedestrian Sean Crowley.
Sean was just 58 when he died as a result of injuries caused by Abdullah in August 2021. A court heard how he went across the windscreen before falling to the floor. Abdullah failed to stop at the scene – continuing in his bad driving and eating his food while kind passers-by called the emergency services.
He was jailed for 75 months and disqualified from driving for six years and six weeks.
Usmaan Zahoor
Usmaan Zahoor is behind bars after causing a crash (Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Zuhoor killed his “best friend” Junayd Harris and injured two other passengers when he sped straight across a busy crossroads and crashed into a Mercedes.
He had already been locked up for a previous driving offence just five months before the fatal crash. Zahoor went on to name his child after 20-year-old Junayd.
He was jailed for five years and banned from driving for four years after his release from prison.
Derek Whitworth
Whitworth was handed an 18-month community order and was told he must complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days for causing the death of school worker Sonya Majid.
He was driving a waste disposal van when he hit her at the junction of Queens Road and Hanson Lane in Halifax. Whitworth had set off just before traffic lights turned green, a court heard. It was said he stayed at the scene and tried to help Sonya.
Darren Rowe and Jordan Watkiss
Darren Rowe (Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Jordan Watkiss (Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Rowe and Watkiss were jailed in March for causing the crash that killed Simon Hinchliffe. Rowe’s Seat Ibiza ran into the back of Mr Hinchliffe’s van moments after he had Watkiss had been seen speeding along nearby roads. Rowe’s car was seen to hit speeds of up to 90mph when the limit was 40mph.
After the collision, he fled the scene, leaving his five-year-old alone in the car. He returned to the scene and was accompanied by an innocent and vulnerable woman who he tried to say was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.
Sickeningly, Rowe had even rubbed some of his own blood onto the woman to fake the appearance of injuries in a shameless bid to convince police she was the driver. A forensic investigation proved Rowe was the driver after his DNA was found on the steering wheel and airbag.
Rowe was jailed for five years and banned from driving for seven years and six months. Watkiss was jailed for four years and six months and banned from driving for six years.
Lee Beevers
Beevers is now behind bars (Image: West Yorkshire Police)
27-year-old Beevers hit cyclist Alan Tankard in April last year and left him to die in the road.
Beevers was jailed for four years and eight months. He was also disqualified from driving for five years and three months for the collision in Wakefield Road, Normanton.
Aaron Horn
Aaron Horn (Image: Yorkshire Live)
Holmfirth driver Horn killed devoted wife Vera Davey when he collided with the campervan being driven by her husband, Roy.
In a “momentary lapse of concentration,” Horn caused the crash when he was negotiating a left-hand bend but veered onto the wrong side of the road. The couple and Vera’s cousin Margaret Wainwright had gone to Nostell Priory when they were in the campervan. Horn’s car collided with the front of it and sent it spinning into a tree.
Mrs Wainwright had to be taken to hospital by air ambulance while her cousin and her husband were taken by road. A court was told Mr Davey was discharged from hospital the next day but his wife tragically died ten days later due to the combination of her injuries and pre-existing conditions.
Horn was jailed for six months.
Daniel Crawshaw
Daniel Crawshaw (Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Drink-driver Crawshaw killed beloved Keegan Egdell in a crash – and then rolled a cigarette instead of calling for help.
He had got behind the wheel after downing lager and vodka lemonades – and even told those concerned “vodka five and drive” when they warned him about drink-driving.
Arrogant Crawshaw had even crashed into another vehicle while parking his car in Huddersfield before he met up with a friend and 20-year-old Keegan Egdell. Keegan tragically died in the crash on the B6108 Huddersfield Road. Another man suffered serious injuries. Crawshaw got out of the car and was seen by a passing taxi driver rolling a cigarette. He then tried to get into the taxi in an attempt to leave the scene.
He was jailed for eight-and-a-half-years.
Daniaal Iqbal
Daniaal Iqbal has been jailed for causing the crash which killed a man (Image: North Yorkshire Police)
Bradford delivery driver Iqbaal was using Snapchat at the time he caused the crash which killed biker Peter Rushforth in Ripon.
Iqbal had just made a delivery and had just rounded a corner when he collided with Mr Rushforth, who was travelling towards Ripon on his blue GSXR Suzuki motorbike. The impact of the collision killed him instantly. A court heard that just seconds before the crash Iqbal had sent a message.
He was jailed for three-and-a-half-years.
Harrison Buckley
Harrison Buckley has been jailed for killing Ann Cassidy (Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Buckley made his girlfriend take the blame in a crash that killed Yorkshire pensioner Ann Cassidy.
Jordie Stokes told police she was driving the blue Seat Ateca that hit Ann as she crossed Park Lane in Thrybergh in May last year. Following her death, South Yorkshire Police reviewed CCTV which showed Stokes was not driving and a man in the driver’s seat. Stokes later admitted to police it was her partner Buckley. He handed himself in when he heard Stokes had been arrested.
He was jailed for 14 months.
James Bryan
James Bryan, 37, has been jailed for nine months (Image: North Yorkshire Police)
Bryan was jailed in October last year after he knocked a man off his bike near Wetherby and killed him.
He was behind the wheel of a Porsche when he hit Andrew Jackson on the A168 between Wetherby and Boroughbridge on May 10, 2020. Mr Jackson tragically died from his injuries.
Bryan was jailed for nine months and disqualified from driving for two years.
Kwao Frimpong
“Rushing” Asda pharmacist Frimpong was jailed and disqualified from driving for three years and six months for causing the head-on crash which killed John Graham Cloke.
Frimpong was on his way to work and Mr Cloke had just dropped his partner off when he was hit by the grey Mercedes being driven on Pleasley Road, near Aughton in Rotherham[15]. . Witnesses spoke of having to avoid Frimpong, who was described as being in a “hurry” before the crash which happened just before 8am.
Jack Simpson
Teenager Simpson was just 16 when he caused the crash which killed three people on the M606.
A court heard how he had driven 70mph in a 30mph area of Bradford before crashing into a taxi, killing its driver, Sohail Ali, and passenger, Simon McHugh. Simpson, who was 15 at the time, also killed his friend, and a passenger in the stolen Ford transit van he was driving, 19-year-old Kyden Leadbeater.
He was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
References
- ^ get behind the wheel of their cars (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ courts (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ crimes (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ BMW driver involved in fatal crash that killed Katelyn Dawson in Huddersfield is too ‘frightened’ to give evidence in court (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Rotherham (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)
- ^ Read the full story here. (www.examinerlive.co.uk)