Mubashar Hussain: Car thief jailed for 12 years for running over PC Gareth Phillips

A car thief has been jailed for 12 years for causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) to a policeman by running him over with an unmarked patrol car.

PC Gareth Phillips suffered life-threatening injuries, including a shattered pelvis, after Mubashar Hussain drove the vehicle over him during a traffic stop in August, Birmingham Crown Court was told.

The 42-year-old police officer was called to a report of a Range Rover being driven dangerously, in convoy with another vehicle, in the Moseley area of the city on 10 August.

He and other officers attending the incident surrounded the 4x4, one of them shooting Hussain with a Taser.

But Hussain, 29, was not incapacitated and even managed to remove the barbs in his skin, before evading officers and jumping into an unmarked police BMW, one of two vehicles preventing his escape.

He reversed the car at speed, knocking over and wounding a number of officers before running over PC Phillips' pelvic region with its front and rear passenger side wheels, prosecutors said, pinning him underneath it at one point.

Hussain, who was already banned from driving, fled the scene at speeds of up to 97mph - abandoning the vehicle a short time later in the Sparkbrook area, where he was arrested.

The court was shown bodycam and helicopter footage of Hussain struggling with officers trying to handcuff him after he got out of the 4x4.

While co-defendant Ahsan Ghafoor was handcuffed and pinned to the ground, Hussain used his physical strength to resist arrest.

Prosecutor Andrew Smith QC said Hussain was described as "looking in a rage and fired up" and, despite being tasered again, reached the unmarked police car behind the Range Rover.

The police car, whose engine had been left running, began to reverse after Hussain got into the driver's seat.

Hussain then "drove forward over the pelvic region of PC Phillips before accelerating up Moorcroft Road," Mr Smith added, calling the incident "extremely shocking and frightening" for the officers present.

The car thief, who has four previous convictions for crimes involving dangerous driving, was originally charged with attempted murder.

Hussain admitted causing GBH while trying resist arrest along with 11 other offences last month.

Judge Mark Wall QC told him PC Phillips was left with "potentially life-changing injuries".

Judge Wall said he will serve at least two-thirds of the sentence and face a further five-year period on licence after release.

Ghafoor, 24, of Fulham Road, Sparkhill, who threw a brick towards a police car, was jailed for 28 months after admitting two counts of car theft and three other offences including dangerous driving.