A woman who killed her friend in a Lamborghini crash after driving at speeds of up to 143mph was arrested at hospital after failing to appear in court for sentencing.
Humaira Batool, 26, lost control of the car on the M62 in West Yorkshire in the early hours of December 21 2022. Her friend, Mohammed Shaan Hussain, 20, was recovered from the wreckage of the car but had been fatally injured.
Batool initially told police she had been asleep in the passenger seat and that Mr Hussain was driving. However, CCTV footage showed her swapping seats with him at traffic lights before taking the wheel.
Attempts to blame the victim
During her trial, she also tried to blame Mr Hussain for the crash, claiming he had been fiddling with the Lamborghini's controls, causing the vehicle to suddenly accelerate.
Jurors heard the Lamborghini left the motorway, struck a barrier and overturned. Witnesses stopped to help, but flames prevented them from reaching Mr Hussain, who was trapped in the wreckage.
Batool managed to escape but suffered serious injuries, including burns to around 10 per cent of her body and a shattered tibia.
Court no-show and arrest
Batool was due to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Monday but failed to attend, with her barrister saying she had had a flare-up of endometriosis and had gone to A&E.
Prosecutor Christopher Dunn accused her of "putting it through its paces" and challenged her account of the crash, telling her: "The only thing that was making you go faster that night was your right foot." At Monday's hearing, Mr Dunn said it was "clearly a ruse" by Batool to avoid sentencing and that she had made several attempts to "thwart the prosecution" throughout the case.
Judge Ray Singh issued a bench warrant for Batool, saying she was "avoiding being dealt with", and the defendant was arrested and taken to court from the hospital.
Judge's criticism and remand
The judge 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."
While the judge was considering whether to give Batool bail overnight or remand her in custody, Mr Dunn said the prosecution had photographs from social media of the defendant, who has a beauty business, wearing a ballgown and high heels at a beauty event. He said the pictures were taken in the weeks before her trial, during which she arrived at court on crutches.
Mr Dunn said: "Our information is it was at a time just before the trial. Then she comes to the trial using crutches and struggling to get into the dock, when she was wearing high heels to go to a beauty event."
Judge Singh remanded Batool in custody overnight to be sentenced on Tuesday, telling her there was a "significant risk" she would not attend court again if bailed.
Batool, from Bradford, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving in January 2024 and found guilty by a Leeds Crown Court jury in September this year.
