Killer driver left child in car

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A driver jailed in 2002 for killing a pedestrian in Bedfordshire has been jailed again for dangerous driving.

Riaz Shah was flagged down by police in Luton on 21 April, but drove off at speed and eventually abandoned his car, leaving his two-year-old son inside.

Thirty-year-old Shah was arrested two days later at a hotel in Luton where police found a large quantity of drugs.

He was jailed for four years and 10 months and banned for two years after admitting motoring and drugs offences.

Prosecutor Natalie Carter said: "Over a three minute chase along residential streets at twice the speed limit, he crossed red lights, mounted a pavement and caused other cars to take evasive action."

When he was caught, with his girlfriend, police also found heroin and cocaine worth £3,800 with items needed to cut it and bag it up.

Lesson not learned

Shah, of Selbourne Road, Luton pleaded guilty to dangerous driving while disqualified and without insurance plus two charges of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

He was also in breach of a suspended prison sentence for driving while disqualified.

Stephen Requena, defending, said: "He had begun using cocaine during an emotional upheaval in his life and became addicted and in debt to his drug dealer who threatened his family if he did not pay up."

Judge John Bevan QC told him: "You caused the death of an innocent pedestrian and I would have thought you would have learned your lesson.

"It is pure fortune that child was not injured. The consequences could have been horrendous if you had crashed.

"And two days later you were found in a hotel room surrounded by an enormous amount of drugs."

In 2002, Shah was sentenced to four and a half years for causing the pedestrian's death.