Hello All

I was at the Old Bailey yesterday for the sentencing of Rashid Ali, the man who was driving the black Range Rover when it struck and killed Jack Ryan on 13th January 2021.

I have not sat in the press box at a court there for about 30 years, so it was slightly off my usual showbiz/celebrity red carpet route, but it was important to me to be there. 

A lot was said in court during the hearing that lasted around two hours. I will avoid writing a full-on essay here, so I am outlining the key outcomes in bullet points below, as briefly as possible. 

I met with all the central figures in the case - the lead investigating police officer (Detective Constable Leigh Crocombe) and KCs for the prosecution (Philip Stott) and the defence (James Scobie). I also talked with Jack Ryan’s parents - Noel and Teresa - and his sister Ciara.

Clearly, the most striking aspect of the hearing was that Ali did not attend. He is still in Pakistan and has refused to return to the UK. Ali is a Pakistani national and was in Britain legally on a student visa when the accident happened. 

As you will already know, he also failed to attend his trial in August (although I was told yesterday that he did in fact ask the court if he could watch his own trial via Video Link!). It has become clear that Ali got married in Pakistan a short time before the trial. There are now concerns that this development may hinder efforts to extradite him in the future, not least if he has children in the interim.

Yesterday’s events are clearly not the end of the matter - not for the police, the judiciary, and certainly not for Jack’s family. I, for one, will certainly keep track of any progress - or lack of it - when it comes to extradition.

I also intend to do whatever I can to put pressure on Ali and the authorities to ensure that he faces justice and serves his time. (RM/14/9/24)

                                                           MAIN POINTS

- Rashid Ali, 30, was sentenced to five years in custody. The judge said that he can serve half of this on licence. So, in effect he will serve a maximum of two-and-a-half years in prison. This could possibly be further reduced for good behaviour.

- He was banned from driving for five-and-a-half years and must complete an “extended driving course”.

- He was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay a further cost of £190. This money is due within six months. His counsel Mr Scobie assured the court that Ali has the means to pay - because he is “working on a business project” in Pakistan. How nice for him.

- NO extra penalty was added to the jail tariff for Ali’s breach of bail restrictions and for failing to attend court. That matter will be dealt with separately under the Bail Act. By my reckoning, he faces a maximum additional jail term of 12 months for this. The added stress that he has caused Jack Ryan’s family by his failure to attend trial is hardly compensated by this potential added punishment.

- In his mitigation summary, Mr Scobie said that - via a letter to the court - Ali “expresses remorse and apologises to the Ryan family”. He said “Rashid Ali is not a bad man”. He added that the delay in the court proceedings “had resulted in him being too frightened to face up to reality”. He added that through “his act of cowardice, he has hurt himself” and that he knows “he will have to face what he has done and pay for it”. 

- Mr Scobie told the court that Ali “does intend to return”, but offered no timeline for that. In reply to this promise, Judge Judy Kahn said: “I am unable to accept that assurance”.

-  the female passenger who was traveling with Ali in the Range Rover - and who was the first to call 999 - has since failed to assist with the case and has basically “disappeared”. 

- Ali had one previous conviction - for driving without insurance in 2016, for which he got six penalty points on his licence. 

- Mr Stott paraphrased two Victim Impact statements that had been submitted to the court - one on behalf of the family by Ciara and one from Jack’s girlfriend Liz Austin, who attended the hearing via Video Link from Australia. Both statements were highly emotive and spoke of the pain they have all suffered since Jack’s horrific and tragic death.

- Ciara told how loved and popular Jack was and revealed how the family has been “shattered” and “overwhelmed” by grief.  She said that they all suffer from a “constant, unshakeable anxiety” that tragedy can happen again. She also added that since the accident she “has lost all sense of who she is”.

- Liz told how Jack and her had planned a future together and were in the middle of a course of IVF to start a family. She took the “huge” decision to continue with that process in the aftermath of Jack’s death. The treatment was ultimately successful and their daughter, Millie, was born in December 2021. Liz wrote in her statement that she now faces the sadness of “never growing old” with Jack and the devastating reality of their daughter “never knowing her father”.

I make no personal comment on the level of this sentencing, nor about the factors that have unfolded during the three-and-a-half years it has taken to come to court. I will say, however, that it beggars belief to me that a person who has been charged with a serious offence - of killing someone - and faces a near-certain custodial sentence is allowed to travel.

Why on earth is it not mandatory in British law that if you face serious criminal charges, then you must surrender your passport? Ali was not even a full time resident in the UK and his main family is in Pakistan, so surely it was likely that he might not stay? 

The fact that he has not faced justice means that this case will inevitably drag on for, quite possibly, years. This only heaps more pain and misery on Jack Ryan's family and loved ones. Something is wrong in the judiciary system that allows this to happen. Justice delayed is justice denied. Bring Ali to court.

RM/24/09/24