BMW thief who smashed into care home during police chase and injured residents is locked up

Sam Asgari-Tabar smashed into the Sunderland care home with such force it caused the first floor to collapse onto residents on the ground floor

A car thief who left a 94-year-old woman with a broken neck and spine after smashing into a care home during a police chase has been jailed for more than five years.

Sam Asgari-Tabar had exceeded 100mph in a desperate bid to flee from police in a car he had stolen with Reece Parish, when he lost control and crashed into the care home building.

A 94-year-old woman living in Highcliffe Care Home, in Witherwack, Sunderland, was badly injured and had to be dug out of rubble when the BMW slammed into the care home with so much force a ceiling collapsed on top of her.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 94-year-old, who has dementia, suffered fractured vertebrae and had to be pulled out of the rubble by firefighters. Several other elderly residents were also injured and the building suffered £260,000 of damage and the home lost £411,000, the court heard.

As Asgari-Tabar was locked up, it emerged he was already banned from the roads for drug driving and on a suspended sentence for assaulting his parents. Now he has been jailed for five years and eight months for robbery and causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was also given a seven year seven months driving ban. Parish got three years and one month for the robbery and a separate offence of violent disorder during the infamous Sunderland riots.

Judge Stephen Earl said: “This was one of the worst cases of its type I’ve encountered in 45 years of practising the law, including 25 years on the bench.”

He added: “It was appalling, this vehicle went straight through the downstairs lounge where people were sitting as the upper lounge collapsed onto the lower lounge, causing residents to fall through the floor and suffer significant injuries.

The people living there range in age from 60 to 97 and many of them suffer from debilitating illnesses. Of those, a considerable number suffer from dementia or related illnesses. That means they are unable to comprehend that which happened to them, other than the fear and shock it must have engendered in them when this appalling accident took place.

“They were being cared for in a place they were entitled to feel safe. They were not safe, Mr Asgari-Tabar, as a result of your appalling actions that day.”

The court heard events had begun earlier on July 10, when Asgari-Tabar and Parish had attended a house in Fenham on the premise of wanting to buy a BMW 3 series. Having haggled the price down to £1,600, they asked for a lift to a cashpoint to withdraw money to pay for it.

However they then said they had been unable to take money out but would transfer the payment electronically. Asgari-Tabar then said his phone battery was flat and asked for a charger. The sister of a woman who was in the car went to get a charger, leaving the woman alone with Asgari-Tabar and Parish in the car.

When she came back the car and her sister had gone. It later transpired neither of them had the funds to pay for the car and prosecutors say they intended to steal the car from the outset. The woman who was driven away in the car said as soon as her sister went inside, one of the men shouted “Let’s go, let’s go” and Parish, who was behind the wheel at that point, drove off as the woman opened the window and shouted for help.

They discussed where to leave her and tried to pull her out in a side street but she resisted as her phone was in the car. They did eventually get her out of the car and Asgari-Tabar took over driving at that point.

After being bundled out of the car, she reported the stolen car to police. In a victim impact statement, she said the ordeal has had a traumatic impact on her.

Details of the car were circulated and it was spotted by police on the A1231 in Washington. Dash cam footage shows the car being driven dangerously, including 75mph in a 20mph zone, going through a red light, on the wrong side of the road and it then goes over 100mph before smashing into the care home.

Emma Dowling, prosecuting, said: “The care home had been subject to what is described as a catastrophic impact by the vehicle.”

The court heard there is a lounge and lobby on the ground floor and likewise on the first floor. Due to the impact of the crash, the upper floor collapsed, bringing the ceiling down on residents sitting on the ground floor.

As the emergency services moved in to the care home, the roof was still falling in as residents who could move were evacuated. Some residents were caught in the collapse and required emergency attention.

One woman, the 94-year-old dementia sufferer, was trapped under the rubble and had to wait for an ambulance. She had suffered serious injuries, including three fractured vertebrae.

In a victim impact statement, her son said: “The ceiling came down on top of her. I later found out firefighters had to dig her out from the rubble and cut her clothes off to examine her.

“I can’t imagine the fear she and other residents would have felt. My only consolation is she can’t remember because of her dementia.

“She had broken bones and multiple fractures of her spine and neck. Due to her condition she doesn’t understand what the neck brace was and tried to remove it.”

He added that the pensioner used to teach children and added: “She spent six weeks in hospital and was discharged back to the care home, still with fractures to her neck and spine. She’s lost a lot of the independence she enjoyed before the crash.

“She’s lost a lot of the mobility she had and needs to be moved around in a wheelchair at times. She didn’t even want to celebrate her 95th birthday recently. The staff say she is not the person she was before.

“The remaining years or months of her life will not be as comfortable or happy as we had hoped.”

Other residents were also injured in the crash, including a 78-year-old woman who suffered a fractured wrist, a 70-year-old man who suffered cuts and bruises, a 97-year-old woman who was kept in hospital for two days and an 87-year-old woman who had cuts and skin loss.

The court heard the damage to the care home left a repair bill of £260,000 and the total loss to the company was £411,000. Some residents had to be moved as a result of what happened.

Asgari-Tabar, 21, of Stratford Avenue, Sunderland, who has 21 previous convictions, including for robbery and who was on a suspended sentence at the time for assaulting his parents and banned from driving for drug driving, and Parish, 21, of Fordham Road, Sunderland who has nine previous convictions, both admitted robbery of the car and Asgari-Tabar also admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Parish also admitted violent disorder in relation to the riot in Sunderland on August 2 last year.

Nick Lane, for Asgari-Tabar, said he is ashamed and remorseful and is concerned for the wellbeing of the 94-year-old woman. Chris Knox, for Parish, said he was young at the time.

The Chronicle