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

Liam Willdigg was caught throwing a stone at counter protesters

A man who threw a stone as mass violence broke out in Hanley has been spared jail. Liam Willdigg got involved in the protest on August 3, 2024 with both his parents in the wake of the Southport murders.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that when someone in the rival group threw a stone in his direction he picked it up and hurled it back.

Now the 26-year-old has been sentenced to two years, suspended for 18 month. Prosecutor Chandan Kang said: “There were protests taking place that day outside mosques and in the city centre.

“The defendant was seen at 11.30am. At one stage he appeared to be filming. He can be seen at the frontline next to the police. At 1.38pm he arrived as part of a large group walking towards the mosque. He was captured on CCTV carrying out a throwing motion.”

Willdigg handed himself into the police on January 29 this year. He admitted being present and throwing a stone to a group of protesters. He agreed that was wrong and he should not have done it.

Willdigg, of Florence Road, Hanford, pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

Scott Ashdown, mitigating, said Willdigg was in Hanley for a number of hours. Mr Ashdown said: “Other people were behaving in a racially aggressive manner, picking up stones. He sought to prevent that sort of behaviour from going on. He expressed his displeasure to those who behaved in such a way.

“At Town Road there were a number of counter protesters in possession of improvised weapons and they were throwing stones at those in the vicinity of the grass verge.

“It was foolish. He accepts when a particular item landed in his general vicinity he impulsively picked it up and threw it. He accepts that reaction was completely unacceptable and unlawful.

“To his credit he admitted his part. He did not seek to minimise his part. His part was minimal, fleeting and entirely impulsive. It is very unlikely that the stone would have reached its target.”

As part of the suspended sentence Willdigg must complete a rehabilitation activity requirement for 30 days and 240 hours unpaid work.

Judge Richard McConaghy said: “On July 29 last year there was an appalling and broadly publicised incident at a dance studio in Southport. The man involved was convicted of the murder of three young girls and 10 counts of attempted murder. In the days that followed there was significant misinformation online which focused on his ethnicity and immigration status.

“There were protests including in Hanley and counter protests. On August 3 last year there was a protest in and around Town Road and the area around the mosque. It descended into violence. There were police in riot gear.

“Threats were made with weapons. Some had been brought to the scene. Many others were picked up there. Missiles, such as bricks, were thrown. Pieces of wood were picked up and brandished. Police who tried to maintain the order were abused and argued with by people intent on threatening and using violence. All on a Saturday afternoon when the town centre was busy. Members of the public and police officers were injured. Public safety and public order were put under threat. The disruption caused was significant.

“You had attended Hanley with both of your parents and were there for several hours. You were present from about 11.30am and were with a large group who advanced on a mosque after 1.30pm. There were police present trying to keep the peace. There was no need for any physical confrontation whatsoever between the two groups. Large stones were thrown from both sides over the police line. You were one of the throwers. You indicated you had picked up a stone thrown towards you from the other group but had not hit you.

“Your involvement in violent acts came from the throwing of that one stone. There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. Due to the fact that the Crown have taken the view that they can only allege a momentary involvement in violence on your part, the casting of a stone that could not be said to have hit anybody else, I have just formed the view that in your case the sentence can be suspended.”

Stoke Sentinel

A judge described Euan Corbett as a ‘third rate wannabe-gangster’ after he went on the run and ordered windows to be shot through

A danger driver who fled the country after causing the death of his friend was described by a judge as a “third rate pound shop wannabe-gangster” as he was jailed for 15 years.

Euan Corbett taunted police and arranged a shooting in Middlesbrough while abroad.

Corbett’s Audi A3 left the road and “bounced twice” before it overturned after he tried to negotiate a bend on the North York moors at over 100mph on May 2, 2020. His passenger and friend, Shane Finn, 21, was taken to James Cook University Hospital by air ambulance, but he died from his injuries two days later.

When another car stopped to help at the scene on Knott Road, which is north of Rosedale Abbey, Corbett, lied to them. He told the woman who stopped to help Mr Finn not to say he was there when the emergency services asked who was at the scene of the crash. He claimed that another man had been driving; and that he had fled the scene – something that the court heard distracted the police investigation.

A collision expert later found that Corbett was driving at speeds between 100 and 120 mph. He had no driving licence or insurance. The brakes of his Audi were worn, although that was not found to be a contributing factor to the crash.

Teesside Crown Court has heard that Corbett fled the country when he was granted bail. He failed to turn up to court in 2022. The judge described him as “swanning around Europe – taunting the police and taunting the family”. He wasn’t arrested until July 2025, on his return to the UK.

Whilst travelling in Europe, he committed a further offence. On Thursday, Corbett, who is from Thornaby, sat with his head in his hands, as he followed the court hearing from prison.

Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, told the court that Corbett ordered an associate “to ping” various people and to “blow their windows in” in a series of Snapchat voice messages. Corbett, 26, was trying to frighten people he said owed him money. On July 5, 2023, a woman was up watching TV after midnight, in her Middlesbrough home, when she heard a loud bang.

When she went downstairs, she saw her living room windows were smashed. Mr Gittins said that when she looked at her CCTV, she saw two men, with their faces covered, on a quad bike. The footage showed “one of them firing a shotgun at her house.”

Corbett ‘not fit to be in society’

Shane Finn’s father, Stephen Finn, stood up to read his statement. He said: “You should never have to bury your son, it’s the most heart wrenching experience, that leaves scars forever.”

Mr Finn thanks the police – who he said “never gave up.” Turning to Corbett, he told him: “You are a heartless, thoughtless man – you should stay locked up, You’re a waste of human skin and not fit to be in society.”

Georgia Dixon, Shane Finn’s partner, said that she had “barely become a mother, when my daughter lost her father” and that she couldn’t visit Shane in hospital because of Covid restrictions. “Shane was alone at the time of the accident because the defendant did not comfort him,” Ms Dixon said, “Shane was also alone when he died, because of Covid”.

Ms Dixon accused Corbett of “making a mockery out of our pain”. She said that whilst he was on the run, during the riots, he posted on Facebook that he would pay £5,000 to anyone “who sent him video evidence of setting police cars on fire”.

Corbett, who gives his address at HMP Hull, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving; causing death whilst uninsured and having no licence; and breach of bail. He was convicted of conspiracy to possess a firearm, with intent to cause fear of violence, by a jury after standing trial last week.

Corbett’s defence

Corbett’s barrister read out a statement from his client – he wrote that he wanted to let Shane Finn’s family “know how sorry I am”. He said that Shane “was his friend” and he “misses him dearly.”

Mr Rishi told the court that Corbett was 21, “very immature” and that he panicked – “he could not face his family, he could not face his friends. Out of shame, he left the country.”

The defence barrister said that the “three friends were together in the car, when Mr Finn positioned himself in the middle of the rear seat and did not wear a seat belt. Shane Finn’s injuries were not immediately apparent after the crash.”

Judge slams Corbett’s apology

Judge Jonathan Carroll told the court that Shane Finn will miss his daughter’s “first tooth, a child growing up into a young woman” because of Corbett’s “selfishness.”

“I accept that Shane Finn was not wearing a seat belt,” the judge continued, “but that was not the cause of his death. The speeds you were driving at over the North Yorkshire moors were truly shocking.

“You set about making excuses not to accept responsibility. As Shane was fighting for his life, you did not call an ambulance. You invented another driver.”

The judge said that Corbett had spent three years “swanning around Europe – taunting the police and taunting the family”.

He rejected Corbett’s apology – telling him: “I, on behalf of the family, want to make it clear that are no signs of remorse from you. You fled the country, prioritising yourself over anybody else.”

Over the shooting, the judge described Corbett as behaving like “some third rate pound shop wannabe-gangster. Like a loanshark, ordering another to shoot the windows of people who owed you a few quid – in your fantasy gangster lifestyle.”

Corbett was jailed for 15-years-and- two-months. He was banned from driving for 14-years-and-one-month.

Gazette Live

An 18-year-old boy who set fire to a fence and threw missiles at officers at the Manvers Way riots in 2024 has been jailed for four years.

Callum Bacon, now 19, was caught on police bodyworn camera at the scene of the widespread disorder outside a Holiday Inn Express on August 4, 2024.

There, the teenager was videoed as he kicked an officer’s riot shield and knocked them to the ground, threw objects at police and set fire to a fence.

Two months after the riot, Bacon was arrested following an appeal for information where police published the faces of dozens of people they wanted to question.

A statement from South Yorkshire Police released today (November 17) claims Bacon maintained his silence and refused to answer question about his behaviour at the hotel.

He was charged with violent disorder and arson, and later pleaded guilty to both counts.

Bacon, of Pontefract Road, Pontefract, appeared at Sheffield Crown Court today where he was jailed for four years.

The investigation into August 4 riot in Manvers last year has to date seen over 100 people sentenced to a total of over 250 years in prison.

The incident outside Holiday Inn Express was among last summer’s riots, all of which took place after misinformation was disseminated in the wake of a fatal stabbing in Southport that claimed the lives of three young girls.

An anti-immigration protest attended by over 700 people turned violent, with extensive damage to the ground floors of the Rotherham hotel and burning bins set inside the entrance and fire exits.

Previous sentencing hearings for those involved with the disorder have heard that 58 police officers, three police dogs and one police horse were injured during the course of the violence.

Some 22 members of staff present within the hotel barricaded themselves inside a kitchen, using three freezers, fearing they would die, the court has previously heard.

Sheffield Star

A drunk teen who had no memory of throwing missiles at police during a city centre riot has been put behind bars

Jack Anderson, who had been drinking and had taken cocaine, joined in the mass disorder in Sunderland on August 2 last year, that mirrored similar trouble that swept across the UK.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Anderson had a Union Jack flag draped across his shoulders and threw two objects towards the police line.

Prosecutor Neil Pallister said Anderson was later arrested and initially made no reply when questioned by the police but added: “He later said he could remember going out in the city centre for a drink but due to the alcohol and cocaine he consumed he had no memory of what he had done after.”

Anderson, 19, of Sherpherd Terrace, Sunderland, admitted riot.

Judge Tim Gittins sentenced him to two years behind bars and told him: “You brought shame not only on the flag you draped yourself in but on the city of Sunderland.”

Judge Gittins said he was satisfied Anderson got “swept up” in the violence and has a good prospect of rehabilitation but added that sentences for civil disorder must “punish and deter others from copying”.

Sophie Allinson-Howells, defending, said Anderson was just 18 at the time and had a turbulent home life but has an “exemplary” work ethic, is in employment, has a steady relationship and added: “He is doing all he can to make his life a success.”

Miss Allinson-Howells said Anderson was supported by friends and family members during the court hearing.

The court heard during the widespread trouble in the city that day police officers, dogs and horses were pelted with missiles as areas became unsafe for ordinary members of the public.

Mr Pallister said: “Officers were met with serious and sustained levels of violence. Officers were attacked with missiles and verbally abused.

“Four officers required hospital treatment and some are not fit enough to return to frontline duties.

“Police vehicles were targeted and damaged. Several patrol cars needed repairs.”

The court heard the city’s police hub was set on fire, business premises were smashed and shops were looted.

Northumbria Police Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine said in an impact statement police vehicles as well as community buildings and businesses came under attack that day.

Ms Jardine said the violence was met with a £1.517m policing operation and the full psychological cost to officers involved is yet to be known.

Sunderland Echo

A “sensitive young man” who was involved in the Sunderland riot has dodged jailed after he handed himself in to police.

Drunken Liam Wilde was caught on CCTV throwing a missile at police officers and filming the disorder on his phone during wide-spread disorder in the city on August 2, last year.

A protest in the city centre quickly escalated into ugly scenes which saw police officers attacked, businesses damaged and looted and racist language shouted. Hundreds of people have since been arrested and many jailed for their roles in the disorder, which Northumbria Police’s Chief Constable said cost around £1m to police.

On Tuesday, Wilde, of Honister Drive, Sunderland, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court to be sentenced for violent disorder. The 25-year-old had pleaded guilty to the offence.

The court heard that Wilde had been drinking in the city centre when he joined in on the violence in Keel Square. He was captured on CCTV filming the disorder on his mobile phone before throwing a missile at the police line.

Omar Ahmad, prosecuting, said that during the disorder, police officers were injured, and police dogs were hurt by masonry which was thrown by members of the mob. He said: “The defendant was seen walking away from the police line before bending down to pick up an object and throwing it with significant force towards the police line.”

The court heard that following the riot, police circulated images of those involved, with one image identifying Wilde. He later handed himself in to police.

Mr Ahmad added: “In interview he said he had drinks with a friend and had not been aware of the protest taking place, but joined in and carried on drinking. He accepted throwing a stone. He said he regretted his actions and wouldn’t have acted that way had he been sober.”

Sophie Allinson-Howells, defending, said Wilde had no previous convictions and that his involvement in the disorder was “out of character”. She said: “Much can be said for getting caught up in the moment. He observed and then began to film.”

Ms Allinson-Howells said that positive references had also been provided to the court on his behalf, adding: “He is a caring and sensitive young man who is responsible and soft-spoken and is very nervous about being involved in these proceedings.”

Judge Stephen Earl said Wilde had shown “genuine remorse” and handed him a 20 month prison sentence, suspended for two years. He was ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work and 40 rehabilitation days. He must also pay £187 surcharge.

The Chronicle