‘Coward’s way out’ for speeding driver jailed in absence over jogger’s death

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The family of a jogger run over by a speeding driver have criticised his killer for taking “the coward’s way out” after he refused to return to the UK from Pakistan to face justice.

Rashid Ali, 30, was going twice the 20mph speed limit when his Range Rover Sport struck marketing executive Jack Patrick Ryan near Battersea Bridge in west London.

Mr Ryan, 29, suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene.

Ali, 30, failed to attend his Old Bailey trial and was convicted in his absence of causing death by dangerous driving.

On Friday, he also failed to attend court where he was sentenced to five years in prison.

In a statement afterwards, Mr Ryan’s family said: “The pitiful sentence handed down today to Mr Ali is an insult not only to our family but to all families who experience the trauma of having a loved one’s death caused by dangerous driving.

“The leniency of the sentence is made all the worse by the fact that Ali completely avoided his original trial by absconding to Pakistan and has today compounded our grief and his own shame by not showing at court today for his own sentencing.

“Ali has shown zero empathy and zero compassion for our family and by taking the coward’s way out at every step of the way he has avoided any accountability which has inflicted even more pain for everyone who loved Jack.”

Mr Ryan’s parents Noel and Teresa Ryan, his sister Ciara Ryan and partner Elizabeth Austin said they had been left “shattered” by their loss.

In a joint statement, they said: “We all carry the trauma of what happened to Jack with us every single day of our lives. We live with a constant, unshakeable anxiety that the very worst could happen at any moment – because we have had the worst happen to our family.

“As well as losing a son, brother and friend, a beautiful little baby girl will never get to meet her father. Everyone who knew Jack from all areas of his life misses him deeply and we will all forever cherish his memory.”

They thanked those who had supported them, and added: “Jack was the person who everyone was lucky to have in their life. He was a funny, kind-spirited man with a great love for life and a fierce love for his friends, his partner Liz, his family and his beloved Aston Villa.

“Jack was the perfect combination of a big kid at heart with a sensitivity at his core that made him love and care for those around him so deeply.”

Previously, Ali’s barrister James Scobie KC had read out an email in which the defendant relayed his “great stress” and “anxiety” and apologised to “everyone he had let down”.

Ali wrote: “I feel very ashamed of myself and have assassinated my own character.”

Despite vowing to return to Britain to face any prison sentence, the court was told on Friday that he remains in Pakistan.

Sentencing Khan to five years in prison, as well as a five-and-a-half year driving ban, Judge Judy Khan said that she had received a letter from the defendant.

“He stated that he does intend to return at some point to serve his sentence,” she said.

“I am unable to accept that assurance.”

CCTV footage of the collision showed Mr Ryan was struck and thrown into the air before landing on the front of the Range Rover on Battersea Bridge on the evening of January 13 2021.

The surface of the road had been wet and the defendant had been travelling at speeds of between 39mph and 41mph in the 20mph zone, prosecutor Philip Stott said.

When Ali’s vehicle was about 50 metres away from traffic lights they had changed from green to amber, which would have given him time to stop, jurors heard.

Following the collision, the defendant claimed Mr Ryan had run across the road in front of his car, leaving him no time to apply the brakes, the court heard.

However, Mr Stott said that the Highway Code clearly stated that an amber light required a driver to stop at the stop line.

A driver could only continue if the amber light appeared after the vehicle had crossed the stop line or if pulling up might cause an accident.

Mr Stott said: “There was no other vehicle travelling so close behind Mr Ali’s car that it might cause an accident if he were to stop at the amber light in the normal way.

“He had plenty of time to stop safely and he was, therefore, obliged to do so by the rules of the road.

“Instead, the defendant broke those rules and, in doing so, caused the death of Mr Ryan.”

Following the verdict, Joe Dodman of law firm HCC, said: “Jack’s family have shown incredible strength and dignity in the face of overwhelming grief and trauma.

“Not only have they lost someone truly special in everyone’s lives but they have to try and move forward knowing the perpetrator has been handed a sentence far less in duration than most people would naturally expect.

“The fact he wasn’t present to face them either in court at the trial or today at sentencing hurts the family even more.

“Those who are convicted of the serious criminal offence of causing death by dangerous driving should be required to face the consequences of their own actions and compelled to face their multiple victims.”