A DAD-OF-TEN, who seriously injured two of his young children and an innocent couple by a "disgraceful" piece of dangerous driving, has been jailed for nearly five years.

Umbar Ali, 40, left three of his children - one whose ear had nearly been severed - in the smoking wreckage of his car, with his wife and girlfriend, and fled the scene after the high speed crash in Queen's Road, Manningham, Bradford, on March 22 last year.

Ali claimed he was being chased by his drug dealer, but witnesses did not see any vehicle following him.

Jailing him at Bradford Crown Court today, Judge David Hatton QC, said Ali, of Acre Lane, Eccleshill, Bradford, had driven at great speed in his Vauxhall Zafira, overtaking on the wrong side of the road, and struck another vehicle, shunting it broadside for at least 50 yards until it became embedded in a tree.

The driver of the other car, an Alfa Romeo, Imran Butt, and his wife Sandleen Zeb, suffered serious fractures. The court heard Mr Butt was having ongoing problems after having his ankle pinned.

Ali's three-year-old daughter Amira, suffered a severe laceration to her left ear, and her two-year-old sister Ayesha, fractured her leg and thigh. Thirteen-month-old Aliah escaped with minor injuries.

Judge Hatton told Ali: "You did not have the courage or decency to remain (at the scene). You fled into the night, leaving your victims in their smouldering vehicles."

He added: "I accept that this course of driving was not a long, or prolonged one, covering approximately one mile. But it was nevertheless a disgraceful piece of driving, and a catastrophic one."

Witnesses said Ali was driving at 70mph before smashing into the Alf Romeo as it turned into Valley Road.

Ali was convicted by a jury of four charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was jailed for four years and disqualified from driving for two years.

He was given a further nine months imprisonment after admitting separate charges of attempted burglary and theft from a vehicle.

In mitigation, his barrister, Abigail Langford, said Ali had not seen any of his children since the incident, which was a punishment and would have a salutory effect on him.

Miss Langford said: "It is obvious that leaving the scene of such a serious accident is one that the court and the public will have very little, if any, sympathy with."

But she added: "His children were injured and that is something he knows he has to live with."

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