Man 'urged police to help brother' before M1 death

Shafiqul Haidhar was fatally struck by a lorry on the M1 in Leicestershire

A man pleaded with police and highways officers not to leave his brother alone before he was fatally struck by a lorry on the M1, an inquest has heard.

Shafiqul Haidhar was awaiting recovery on the hard shoulder of the motorway in Leicestershire on 23 August 2023, when he was seen to walk into oncoming traffic.

The 39-year-old - who had a history of mental health issues - had crashed his car into the central reservation earlier that day.

On Tuesday, Mr Haidhar's brother Kaisor Ahmed, told an inquest into his death that he warned the authorities his brother was vulnerable and asked he be taken to a safe place.

Mr Haidhar, a maths teacher from Barking in east London, had driven to Leicestershire on the day he died.

The inquest, at Leicester Coroner's Court, heard Leicestershire Police received two reports of Mr Haidhar's initial crash at 05:58 BST.

Highways officers towed Mr Haidhar's car to the central reservation, where he was left to wait for a recovery vehicle and police did not attend.

Despite pleas from Mr Ahmed, the inquest heard nobody attended to his brother after that point, and he died about an hour and 44 minutes later.

The court heard Mr Ahmed had become "disillusioned about what [police] do", following his brother's death.

Panicked calls to police

Upon learning about the crash in a phone call from his brother, Mr Ahmed asked to speak to the highways officers who were still at the scene.

He recalled in a statement read to the court: "I said something like please do not leave my brother on the side of the road.

"Please take him to a safer location like a police station."

He said he was told by highways officers they would not stay with his brother and so he proceeded to call the police.

The court heard Mr Ahmed then made numerous calls to the Metropolitan Police and Leicestershire Police forces - some at the same time from different phones -between 06:24 and 07:40.

Mr Ahmed told the court he was "panicking" during the calls and told Leicestershire Police his brother was "vulnerable" and "to go to him quickly in case he tried to do something".

During calls to the police, Mr Ahmed was informed Mr Haidhar had sent an image of a last will and testament to his daughter, which he said he told the call handler.

On his last call to Leicestershire Police, which he made at 07:40, Mr Ahmed "felt the tone changed" when he asked about his brother.

He said he was advised officers would be going to his home. By then, his brother had died.

The inquest heard a pathologist reviewed dashcam footage which showed Mr Haidhar walking in front of an oncoming lorry.

Motorway cameras from the day of the fatal crash show queues of traffic near the scene

The court heard Mr Haidhar, whose wife was expecting their fifth child at the time of his death, was involved in a serious collision in the Rotherhithe Tunnel in London in December 2019.

It was established that collision was deliberate and after being placed in an induced coma and surviving his injuries, Mr Haidhar was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

He was also prescribed olanzapine, an anti-psychotic medication, of which the dose gradually reduced over time.

Mr Ahmed said the day before his brother's death he complained of feeling unwell and said he "wanted to be with [his] dad", who had died in 1996.

Early the following morning, Mr Haidhar told his brother he was going to the mosque, but instead drove to Leicestershire - where the court heard he had "no reason to be".

Mr Ahmed told the court he still suffered from "flashbacks" from the day his brother died and from "panic attacks".

In a statement, Mr Haidhar's family described him as a "dedicated and happy family man" who "loved" his job as a secondary school maths teacher and who gave generously to charity.

The inquest continues.