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Killer taxi driver hid dashcam as passengers tried to save grandad he'd just mowed down
A killer taxi driver hid incriminating dashcam footage after mowing down a beloved grandad. Mohammed Naeem threw the camera into the glove compartment of his Skoda Octavia after hitting William John Joseph Byrne as he crossed Ormesby Road.
Analysis of the camera's recordings found Naeem had committed 70 speeding offences during the six-hour shift leading up to the 69-year-old's death and was speeding when he hit him. The 29-year-old was jailed at Teesside Crown Court on Monday as the distraught family of Mr Byrne - known locally as Irish John - looked on.
Rachel Masters, prosecuting, said the taxi driver had picked up two passengers from the Pig Iron, in Corporation Road , Middlesbrough, at around 10pm on May 26 last year. The father-of-three hurtled down the A66 at 70mph, before turning onto the Trunk Road and accelerating down Ormesby Road - a 30mph zone - at 49mph.
An eyewitness travelling behind Naeem said she saw him "pulling away from her quickly" and was "doing something in the roof area" moments before he collided with Mr Byrne at a pelican crossing which had been on green for motorists.
She said Naeem "didn't slow down at all" and in her opinion "hadn't even noticed" the grandad as he crossed the road. Mr Byrne was taken to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where he sadly died as a result of injuries to his chest.
The court heard Naeem, of Marton Road, Middlesbrough, removed his dashcam and threw it into the glove compartment while his two passengers attempted CPR.
Ms Masters said: "Footage was analysed from 4pm when he started work until the incident. "It shows 70 offences of excess speed and one offence of contravening a red light in six hours." Mr Byrne's family said he was “funny, outgoing and a true gentleman with a heart of gold.”
Kieran Rainey, mitigating, apologised on behalf of Naeem, who pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, saying: "He wishes me to say sorry. He tells me that he thinks about Mr Byrne every single day. "He has flashbacks to that night every single day. He often thinks about Mr Byrne's family.
"He knows he's the one to blame. He just wishes he could go back in time to change that. "It's not just lip service. It's a deeply-held, fundamental belief." Judge Stephen Ashurst jailed Naeem, who had no previous convictions, for three years and disqualified him for four and a half years.
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glove compartment that wouldn't be the first place police would look.