Driver jailed for injuring two women in high-speed crash near Bedford

Shamsher Singh pleaded guilty to two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving after failing to stop for police in Bedford in June 2018.

In the early hours of June 23, Singh was spotted by police driving through Bedford in a silver Peugeot ABOVE THE SPEED LIMIT and THE WRONG WAY in a one-way street.

But when the police tried to stop him, he made off - and they pursued him through the streets of Bedford and on to the A6, leading to Clophill.

Officers lost sight of Singh shortly before he crashed the vehicle into a wall in High Street, where he was thought to be driving at 90mph in a 30mph zone.

When officers reached the crashed vehicle, Singh, aged 31, was seen running away from the scene into a nearby field, leaving two seriously injured female passengers in the car behind.

Officers helped the victims - and extinguished the flames when they noticed the vehicle was on fire and filling up with smoke.

Singh, who escaped from the crash largely unscathed, was hiding in the woods in Clophill when he was tracked down by a police dog Kobi and arrested by his handler.

In their testimony, the victims told the court they had pleaded for Singh to stop for the police - and that they were so terrified they considered jumping out of the moving vehicle.

Yesterday (Thursday) at Luton Crown Court, Singh, of Brooms Road, Luton, was sentenced to 28 months for each count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, with the sentences to run concurrently.

He was also issued with a 14-month community order following his prison sentence and a three-year driving ban, which will be followed by an extended re-test.

PC Chris Leah, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Roads Policing Unit, said: “Singh purposefully attempted to make off from police, putting his passengers at risk. He ignored their pleas to stop when he was driving erratically through the streets of our county.

“He avoided serious injury in the crash, but his passengers weren’t as lucky. He not only failed to call for help following the crash, he fled the scene leaving the victims trapped and vulnerable in a burning vehicle."