Driver cleared over Wolverhampton crash that killed brothers

Sanjay and Pawanveer Singh were in a BMW when it was hit by another vehicle

A driver accused of taking part in an "impromptu" race which killed two young brothers has been cleared of causing their deaths.

Pawanveer Singh, aged 23 months, and 10-year-old Sanjay died in March 2019 when their mother's BMW was hit in Wolverhampton.

Bentley driver Hamza Shahid, 36, denied racing an Audi that crashed into them.

The Audi's driver Mohammed Sullaiman Khan admitted causing death by dangerous driving last year.

The 27-year-old, from Edgbaston, Birmingham, also pleaded guilty at the earlier Wolverhampton Crown Court hearing to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Shahid, of Newbridge Road in Small Heath, Birmingham, sobbed when the jury verdict was read out at the same court on Thursday.

He had been charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, of which he was also cleared.

The boys died at the scene and their mother Arathi Nahar suffered serious back injuries.

Hamza Shahid, from Small Heath, Birmingham, was charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, and one count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving

The family were returning home, having just been to a chip shop to get a meal, when the crash happened on Birmingham New Road near traffic lights at the junction of Lawnswood Avenue, Det Con Karl Davies, from West Midlands Police, said.

He added the Audi had reached such "grossly excessive" speeds - of up to 92mph (148kmph) - that "some of the occupants [in the family BMW] were ejected from the vehicle".

Prosecutors alleged Mr Shahid reached speeds of up to 72mph (115kmph) which he denied, telling jurors he was driving at 50mph (80kmph) and did not take part in any "competitive driving", adding he was not responsible in any way for the crash.

Khan fled the crash scene and was recorded on CCTV sitting in a burger bar in Birmingham about an hour later.

Mohammed Sullaiman Khan pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing

Khan later falsely claimed to police his Audi A3 had been stolen by a burglar.

Jurors convicted one of his brothers, 34-year-old Mohammed Asim Khan, of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice relating to the fake burglary.

Another brother, lawyer Mohammed Adil Khan, 35, was found not guilty of the same charge, as was a fourth man, 32-year-old Rashane Henry.

Mohammed Sullaiman Khan was seen on CCTV sitting in a burger bar in Birmingham not long after the crash

Det Con Davis said the boys' mother had "been on a very long road" to recovery since the crash.

"I would describe her as a broken woman," he said.

"She lost two children on an evening that should have ended with a family meal but unfortunately ended in disaster."

A poster of the boys was put up at the scene of the crash

The father of her youngest son was working at the chip shop they visited. At the scene of the nearby crash, he saw both Pawanveer and Sanjay had died, the officer explained.

"They are absolutely devastated by what happened," he said of the parents.

In a statement issued after the case, they said: "Sanjay attended Cotwall End Primary School, Sedgley, where they have made a sunshine garden.

"This garden has provided a safe, secure place where our family and friends can visit. It's there where we feel at peace after the sad loss of both of our sons.

"We as parents of Sanjay and Pawanveer miss them terribly, we will never see them grow up into teenagers and then later as adults. We have been robbed of that."

The two convicted Khan brothers are due to be sentenced at a later date.

Numerous floral tributes were also left where the crash happened