Man who left a baby brain damaged through dangerous driving becomes director of major food company

A man jailed for dangerous driving who left a baby brain damaged has been appointed as a director of one of Britain’s biggest food companies.

Antonio Singh Boparan has been made one of the directors of 2 Sisters Food Group – a Birmingham-based food manufacturing company which was established by his father Ranjit Singh Boparan.

His father, a businessman known as the “Chicken King” in the West Midlands, has an estimated fortune of around £190m. Last year he bought famed turkey producer Bernard Matthews for £87.5 million.

A spokesman for 2 Sisters Food Group told The Independent Mr Boparan was appointed a year ago as one of six managing directors who run various divisions of the company.

“Twenty-two directorships were registered at Companies House last week across all our businesses for six existing managers. Mr Boparan was one of them,” he said.

“He has been in this current role for over a year, and it is as MD of our subsidiary UK poultry (chicken) sites. Prior to this, he held other senior roles, including MD of other subsidiaries, since 2011.”

He said the change had been made so Mr Boparan could sign off legal documents and spending for the company.

Mr Boparan first made headlines when he crashed into 11-month-old Cerys Edwards while speeding in November 2006.

At the age of just 19, he collided with her parents’ car head-on, leaving Cerys paralysed, unable to speak and needing round-the-clock care.

Mr Boparan had been doing more than 70mph in a 30mph area when he crashed his Range Rover Sport, which was owned by his wealthy parents, in Streetly Lane, Sutton Coldfield.

He was convicted of dangerous driving in April 2008 and jailed for 21 months but was released under curfew conditions after spending just six months in prison. He was told by the Judge he had shown an “arrogant disregard” for safety.

Cerys died in 2015 at the age just 9 from complications triggered by an infection. This prompted her father to demand Mr Boparan face new charges but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it would need further evidence from the police for it to think about charging him with causing death by dangerous driving.

Her father, Gareth Edwards, said: “At the end of the day, [Mr Boparan] served six months. Cerys suffered for nine years and now she has lost her life.

”It's an insult. He never served a proper sentence. Perhaps it's time something happened“.

At the time, a spokesman for Mr Boparan said: ”Antonio remains deeply remorseful of his actions as a teenager nine years ago and their tragic consequences.

“No words can appropriately convey the extent of his sorrow and regret at hearing this terrible news today. He sends his heartfelt condolences to Cerys' family at this extremely difficult time.”

Mr Boparan, who could have faced up to 14 years in jail if Cerys had died straight after the crash, was imprisoned again last year for his involvement in a bar brawl which left a man blind in one eye.

He pleaded guilty to violent disorder and inflicting actual bodily harm after the incident in the VIP room of the Nuovo Bar in Birmingham in April 2014. He was sent to prison for 12 months after a court heard he threw one victim to the floor and kicked him in the head.