A beautician who falsely claimed she was asleep when her friend was killed in a 143mph Lamborghini crash has been sentenced to ten years in prison after failing to attend her original sentencing hearing.
Humaira Batool, 26, was driving the rented supercar during the early hours when it crashed through a barrier in wet conditions.
The Lamborghini overturned and caught fire on the M62 near Ripponden, West Yorkshire, leaving Mohammed Shaan Hussain, 20, trapped inside as passing motorists tried desperately to save him.
Batool escaped the £220,000 Urus with serious injuries after the fire melted through her seatbelt, enabling her to get out.
Mr Hussain, known to friends and family as Shaan, remained trapped in the wreckage and died in the flames.
Judge Ray Singh described his death as a ‘truly dreadful way for any human being to die’.
Batool, from Bradford, initially told police she had been asleep in the passenger seat when the Lamborghini crashed at around 4.20am on December 21, 2022.
She changed her account after investigators showed her CCTV footage of her leaving the passenger seat at traffic lights and swapping places with Mr Hussain.
Batool then claimed the car had exceeded 140mph because Mr Hussain was ‘reaching over’ and ‘tampering’ with the controls, making the vehicle ‘surge’ forward.
But a Lamborghini expert told the court that explanation was impossible, stating the extreme speed could only have been achieved using the driver’s ‘right foot’.
Batool first said she woke up as the car rolled over, but altered her account after being shown CCTV footage
Mohammed Shaan Hussain, 20, from Bradford, was pronounced dead at the scene
CCTV shown to jurors captured Batool leaving the passenger side and taking the wheel from Mr Hussain
Batool was expected at Leeds Crown Court for sentencing yesterday but did not appear, saying an endometriosis flare-up had led her to seek treatment at A&E.
Prosecutor Christopher Dunn described the explanation as ‘clearly a ruse’, saying she was attempting to ‘avoid justice’.
Judge Ray Singh agreed and issued a warrant for her arrest. Police found her at Bradford Royal Infirmary, took her directly to court and kept her in custody overnight.
At today’s rearranged hearing, Batool entered the dock on crutches, wearing a winter coat and her hair tied in a bun.
She displayed little emotion as she was jailed for ten years and banned from driving.
Judge Ray Singh said: ‘This was a tragic and entirely avoidable death.
‘Mohammed Shaan Hussain was only 20 years old. He was your friend. His life was brought to a sudden and horrific end in the early hours of December 21, 2022.
‘The circumstances in which he died are particularly distressing.’
Judge Singh said Batool had embarked on a ‘prolonged course of dangerous driving extending over a substantial distance, many miles’.
He added: ‘The evidence showed conscious decisions to continue driving at wholly excessive speeds.’
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The judge said Mr Hussain had survived the initial impact but was unable to escape after the vehicle caught fire.
‘That is a truly dreadful way for any human being to die,’ he said.
Judge Singh also criticised Batool for repeatedly attempting to place responsibility for the crash on Mr Hussain, ‘knowing he was unable to speak on his own behalf’.
He said: ‘During your police interviews you tried to mislead the police into believing that Shaan was the driver, despite being shown clear CCTV footage of you entering the driving seat and that it was you who was the driver.
‘Those were deliberate falsehoods advanced at the expense of a deceased man who was unable to respond.’
In a victim impact statement, Mr Hussain’s mother, Nasreen Akhtar, said: ‘My son was the heartbeat of this home.
‘To lose him suddenly in this horror crash has broken us in ways we can’t put into words.
‘He was 20 years old with his whole life ahead of him. The loss of our son has taken an enormous toll on the entire family. His death has affected each of us in different ways but none of us has been able to return to the life we had before he was taken.’
She said Batool’s efforts to blame her son for the collision had deepened the family’s suffering.
‘No parent should have to fight for the honour of their child while still weeping for him,’ she said.
When Batool was brought before the court by police after missing her sentencing, Judge Singh called her absence ‘unforgiveable’.
As the court considered whether she should be granted bail overnight, prosecutor Christopher Dunn referred to social media photographs showing Batool wearing high heels and a ball gown in the weeks before her trial.
She had used crutches at earlier hearings and claimed she was unable to walk without assistance.
Mr Dunn said he did not want the judge to be ‘misled’ during the bail decision, arguing that the photographs raised questions about whether Batool could be trusted.
In mitigation, Richard Dawson said Batool remained ‘still grieving for the loss of her friend who died in this incident’ and had suffered ‘life-changing injuries’, adding that she had been extremely fortunate to survive.
During the trial, jurors heard that the Lamborghini was consumed by a ‘very significant explosion’ after the crash, with Mr Hussain still trapped inside.
Witnesses who had been overtaken by the vehicle stopped at the scene to help and heard a woman calling out for assistance.
A second group of witnesses later found Batool on a grass verge beside the motorway, while Mr Hussain remained trapped in the wreckage.
She suffered serious injuries, including burns covering about 10 per cent of her body and a shattered tibia.
The court heard Batool had previously lost her driving licence after being convicted of driving without insurance.
Although she later passed another test, she had been advised against driving because of a history of blackouts.
Batool has also been disqualified from driving for five years after her release from prison and will need to complete an extended driving test before she can drive again.
