A personal trainer who caused a “catastrophic collision” when he failed to stop for police while on a first date has been sentenced to 14 months’ detention.
Mazyar Azarbonyad, 20, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving over the crash on the A1 west of Newcastle upon Tyne in the early hours of 9 April, which wrecked five police cars and left seven officers needing hospital treatment.
Sentencing him at Newcastle Crown Court on Monday, Judge Tim Gittins said: “It is nothing short of a miracle that no one was more seriously injured or that there were not multiple fatalities.”
One officer suffered soft tissue damage to her knee and nerve damage to her back, requiring her to remain in hospital for three days, and another needed stitches for a cut to his forehead, the court heard.
“It led to regional traffic chaos, misery for many travellers, not to mention the substantial loss of work and study hours for those that were caught up in the aftermath of what you caused,” Judge Gittins said.
The court heard that Azarbonyad, who arrived in the UK after fleeing his home country, Iran, when he was 14, was driving passenger Courtney Redfern home in a BMW X5 when he was seen by a police officer driving over the speed limit and with defective rear lights.
The court heard he had bought the vehicle on finance despite having a provisional driving licence, no insurance, and later admitting to officers he had paid for only three driving lessons previously.
The judge said: “You should have been nowhere near the driving seat of any vehicle that night, let alone one such as a BMW X5, a large and powerful SUV.”
The defendant, who had been stopped for driving without a licence and with no insurance in 2023, initially pulled over for police, but when an officer approached his car on foot, he said “Nah” and made off at speed, according to his passenger.
Penny Hall, defending, said Azarbonyad claimed Ms Redfern told him she had drugs on her and he “panicked”.
Judge Gittins said: “Whether or not you were made aware of the small amount of cannabis in her possession, I am satisfied you made a deliberate decision to make off substantially because of your unlawful driving position.”
Azarbonyad was spotted by police in the area again about 30 minutes later and failed to stop for a second time, nearly losing control on a bend and hitting a kerb as he accelerated onto the A1, where the judge said his speed reached a “hair-raising level” of over 120 mph.
Jolyon Perks, prosecuting, said his passenger told him several times to stop.
He said: “In her opinion, she thought he could have killed someone.”
When police vehicles moved in to contain the BMW, Azarbonyad braked harshly in the middle of the four-lane carriageway, going from 119mph to zero in an emergency stop and causing a multiple-vehicle pile-up, the court heard.
Mr Perks said: “A number of these officers were trapped in vehicles. There were liquids involved, thankfully not petrol. A number of officers were rendered unconscious. It was clearly a very traumatic incident.”
When Azarbonyad was interviewed he described his driving as “shit”, but did not accept he braked harshly and said the police chasing him were travelling too fast, Mr Perks told the court.
In the days that followed his release on bail, he continued to drive to the gym where he worked, before he was arrested at a petrol station.
Ms Hall told the court he had lost his job after police turned up there, but had been offered a job in a hairdresser’s and hoped to return to the fitness industry.
She said the defendant, of Sylvia Terrace, Stanley, County Durham, travelled to the UK from Iran with his uncle, but lost him during the journey and had never seen him again.
After time in immigration centres and foster placements, he was granted leave to remain and refugee status, the court heard.
Ms Hall told the court: “Quite frankly, he is terrified at the prospect of going to prison.”
Judge Gittins said the defendant would be disqualified from driving for three years and seven months.
No separate penalty was given for two offences of failing to stop for police and charges of driving without a licence or insurance on multiple dates in April, which Azarbonyad also pleaded guilty to.
Superintendent Billy Mulligan, of Northumbria Police, said four of the seven officers who were injured in the crash remained off work.
He said: “It is sheer luck that Mazyar Azarbonyad did not kill anyone that day with his reckless actions.”
