Yassar Yaqub: M62 shooting driver jailed for gun offence

Mohsin Amin and David Butlin were sentenced following a trial at Leeds Crown Court

The driver of a car whose passenger was shot dead by police has been jailed for 18 years for a gun offence.

Yassar Yaqub was shot in the passenger seat of Mohsin Amin's Audi near the M62 in West Yorkshire on 2 January 2017.

Amin, 32, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after being convicted of conspiracy to possess a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Another defendant David Butlin, 39, was handed an 18-month jail term.

He and a third defendant, Rexhino Arapaj, 28, were cleared of firearms charges but Butlin was found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon - a push dagger.

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Yaqub, 28, was in one of two cars travelling in convoy when four unmarked police vehicles stopped them at junction 24 of the motorway in Huddersfield.

While Amin obeyed police instructions, Mr Yaqub had crouched down and as he brought his hands back up the officer was "under no doubt he was holding a handgun", the court heard.

Yassar Yaqub was shot dead by a police officer on the M62

Judge Mr Justice Turner told Amin at sentencing: "You knew that Yassar Yakub had a gun, which you both intended should be used in a way that endangered life in a preconceived and imminent way."

The Crown Prosecution Service said there was evidence of "an ongoing drug feud".

It added the incident was the subject of an independent investigation by the IOPC.