DNA from airbag after Wakefield motel crash helped catch Afghan refugee driver

Officers chased the VW Golf GTD for eight miles from the M62 at J31 to the Redbeck Motel outside of Wakefield, where the driver crashed in the car park before fleeing on foot along with his passenger.

Having been apprehended a short time later, Afghan refugee Shereen Agha then told police during an interview that he was not even in the car.

But after his DNA matched that found on the safety bag, and it was presented to him during a second interview, he then declined to comment.

Prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court, Fen Greatley-Hirsch said that a patrolling officer tried to pull the Golf over on the evening of August 21 last year, having clocked it travelling at 96mph on the M62 eastbound carriageway.

The car first appeared to look like it was stopping after the officer illuminated his lights, pulling onto the hard shoulder. But it then accelerated away reaching speeds of up to 120mph before pulling off the motorway towards Wakefield.

The driver went though red lights and overtook vehicles on blind bends before he pulled into the motel on Doncaster Road in Crofton, but crashed, deploying the airbags.