A prostitute was deliberately mown down when her former boyfriend grabbed the steering wheel of the car he was a passenger in shouting: ‘Kill that woman’, a court heard.

The vehicle swerved into the 27-year-old woman who was flung in the air and left badly injured in the road.

The driver, Saqib Munir, was charged with dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm and sent for trial, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

But Recorder of Bradford, Judge Stephen Gullick, was told police now believed Munir, 22, was wrongly blamed for the collision in White Abbey Road, Bradford, at 6.20am on June 16.

Munir, of Foston Way, Fagley, Bradford, admitted failing to stop after an accident and perverting the course of justice by hiding the car.

The dangerous driving and grievous bodily harm charges were dropped against him.

Judge Gullick sentenced Munir to three months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months with a two-month curfew order.

Prosecutor Caroline Wigin said the woman was working as a prostitute outside a nearby branch of Kwik-Fit in the hours before she was run down.

She had taken alcohol and drugs, including cocaine, but was crossing the road normally when she was struck.

She hit the bonnet and windscreen before being thrown off the car roof.

She suffered a fractured ankle and vertebra, cuts and abrasions.

Miss Wigin said a witness described the car swerving deliberately at the woman.

She told the court the woman and the front seat passenger had been in “a long standing relationship”.

Munir then drove the car to the home of his passenger, who was not named in court.

He bought a cover from a shop and concealed the car beneath it.

Munir told his boss at the takeaway where he worked that his passenger had grabbed the wheel and steered towards the woman.

But he made no response when quizzed by the police, the court heard.

Munir’s barrister Andrew Dallas said he had not expected to be believed.

He now alleged his passenger said “Kill that woman” and grabbed the wheel.

The man encouraged Munir to hide the car by covering it up in a back street.

Mr Dallas said Munir had lived through a nightmare, with his passenger the principal witness against him.

The police were now looking at investigating that man’s role in the collision.

Munir, a Pakistani, was planning to get engaged.

“He is an intelligent man from a good family with a lot to offer, whichever community he lives in.” Mr Dallas said.

Judge Gullick said the woman could have been killed and Munir should have stopped.

If people panicked and sought to cover up after accidents, prison almost inevitably followed, he said.

But as Munir had made a statement to help the police and might need to give evidence in court in future, Judge Gullick said he could impose the suspended sentence.