Hit and run driver who killed cyclist “did not look properly or at all”

A Birmingham motorist who admitted causing the death of a cyclist in a hit-and-run has been jailed for three years for dangerous driving. Birmingham Crown Court heard that Momin Ahmed told police that David Perkins had been riding on the pavement and suddenly emerged, when in reality he had driven straight into the cyclist before fleeing the scene.

Birmingham Updates reports that on the morning of August 21 last year Perkins was riding along Reservoir Road, Edgbaston, when Ahmed, driving in the opposite direction, turned into him at the junction with Osler Street.

“He clearly did not look properly or at all,” said Hugh O'Brien Quinn, prosecuting. “He made that right turn and did not indicate or slow down. He turned cutting the junction so he was on the wrong side of the road.”

Ahmed hit Perkins, who was already halfway across the junction, but he did not stop. Instead he drove home, parked the car and went out.

Bystanders called an ambulance, but Perkins died from his injuries in hospital.

Dash cam footage from a nearby parked car gave police Ahmed’s number plate. They went to his home, but he was not in. He handed himself in later that day.

Speaking in court, his defence team said: “There is no explanation as to why this happened other than it was a bad piece of driving by him. It is the fear of knowing what he had done which led to him driving away."

Perkins, 65, had been CEO for Services for Education until his retirement in 2016. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Martin Spencer said that he had learnt that he was to be a grandfather for a second time just four days before his death.

Spencer told Ahmed "You drove straight into him causing him to be flung into the road and sustain serious head injuries from which he died.

"As a result his family have lost someone they loved deeply. He had absolutely no warning and no opportunity to avoid you. It is highly likely you thought you might be undetected and have avoided the consequences.

"You compounded matters by trying to suggest that Mr Perkins had been riding on the pavement and suddenly emerged. That was completely untrue."

Ahmed admitted dangerous driving, failing to stop and failing to report the incident. In addition to his three-year prison sentence, he will be disqualified from driving for three years on his release.