Fraudsters who stole Scottish woman's identity for motoring fines scam jailed

Three men have been jailed after a motoring fines scam saw an innocent Scottish woman's identity stolen.

Police said dozens of drivers in England used the woman's details to avoid penalty points when filling in Notice of Intended Prosecution forms sent by the authorities.

The scam allowed them to go unpunished over their road crimes, and it only emerged the guilty drivers, from West Yorkshire, had pulled off the scam when the woman reported the identity theft to Police Scotland.

Notice of Intended Prosecution forms ask a vehicle's registered keeper to confirm who was driving at the time of a motoring offence. West Yorkshire Police said it identified 21 road traffic offences involving 12 vehicles between 2019 and 2020.

Most were for speeding and all of them had been attributed to the innocent woman, who had no knowledge of the incidents. Further investigation established that her identity had been stolen.

Her identity was then used by a number of drivers who were subsequently prosecuted. Bradford Crown Court heard courier driver Abdul Kalam, 42, used the woman's details to avoid prosecution for three speeding offences himself.

At the time he had three penalty points on his licence and was concerned that he would be banned if he got more, it was said. And he went on to pull off the same scam for seven other drivers including four of his six co-defendants.

They appeared for sentencing on Wednesday and he was jailed for three years after previously admitting perverting the course of justice.

The court heard Kalam returned a Notice of Intended Prosecution to the police with the woman's details on it despite a speed camera capturing a male driver.

Expert analysis of his handwriting showed he filled in forms using the victim's personal details and address, including on behalf of his sister and her neighbour.

Prosecutor Laura McBride said the woman, who believed her identity was stolen while getting married in Gibraltar, received a barrage of court and police documentation relating to offences she hadn't committed and had to go to court in West Yorkshire.

The woman described the situation as "a living nightmare" and made a complaint to Police Scotland before her case was taken up by an officer in West Yorkshire.

The court heard that the officer, now retired, had almost single-handedly investigated the case and the woman described him as "amazing".

Kamran Ahmed, 43, was jailed for two years after also admitting perverting the course of justice. He had nine points on his licence and paid £200 to Kalam to avoid being banned after being caught speeding twice.

He also told other drivers facing prosecution that they could pay between £750 and £1,000 to have someone else accept their penalty points.

He later confessed to having been paid £500 by one driver, of which around £200 was passed on to Kalam. Ayman Ahmed, 24, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after a trial and was also jailed for two years.

The court heard that Ayman Ahmed had helped other students at Huddersfield University avoid penalty points in return for payments.

He said he was in contact with "a third party" and told one student: "Give me the letter and £300 and I'll do it." Two other men and a woman were given suspended prison sentences for their involvement and ordered to carry out unpaid work for the community.

Nasser Jahangir, 24, told police he paid Ahmed £200 to "get rid" of a prosecution after being caught speeding at 115mph in a 70mph zone.

Munsur Ali, 39, was caught speeding twice on April 11, 2020, travelling at 85mph and 88mph in a 70mph zone. He later went to police and admitted he had given his form to a third party.

Alia Malik, 26, was clocked for two speeding offences on February 6, 2020. In messages between them Kalam said he would "sort it". In a statement read to the court, the victim said she believed her personal details had been stolen after getting married in Gibraltar.

She initially began getting demands for private parking fines followed by speeding fines from the police. It culminated in a car scam in Bulgaria, after which police realised that she was a victim of identity fraud.

She said: "This is when I almost had a full breakdown. I burst into tears and showed them a big pile of fines and speeding tickets that someone had been using my name for. Then it got worse. A blackmail [victim] came to my home.

"He had also been scammed by someone claiming to be me." Judge Sophie McKone said they had all used the identity of an innocent woman to avoid penalty points and the offending struck at the heart of the criminal justice system.

She said: "You have, in your own way, perverted the course of justice. The roads we drive on have to be safe for the sake of other road users, passengers and pedestrians.

"There are speed limits for a reason. There are penalties for those who speed for a reason. It is often said in these cases that perverting the course of justice strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system, and that is why such an offence is so serious.

"If everyone did what you did there would be carnage on the roads. People would drive at whatever speed they wanted because they knew there would be no consequences for them."

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