Doctor's sicknote backdated four months saves lucky dangerous driver from Leeds

Jahan got a sicknote from his doctor this week, that was backdated four months, which did not impress the judge at Leeds Crown Court.

A teenager “fortunate” not to be jailed for leading police on a high-speed chase avoided custody again after providing a doctor's sicknote backdated four months, excusing him from community service.

Judge Simon Batiste told Syed Jahan he was “unimpressed” after the 18-year-old handed over the GP note this week, despite missing his first probation appointment the day after he was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on October 19.

He had admitted dangerous driving when he took off at speed in a red VW Passat in Hunslet, before being shunted into a barrier by the pursuing police. He was given a 24-month sentence, suspended for 24 months, 100 hours of unpaid work and an 18-month driving ban.

Jahan was returned to court this week where he admitted two breaches of the order, the first just hours after his sentencing, and another on January 25.

Mitigating, Ed Youlton said Johan, of Linden Grove, Beeston, was suffering from anxiety and depression and had been injured in a car crash weeks before his sentencing in October. Judge Batiste quickly pointed out that this was not mentioned when he was sentenced.

Judge Batiste then criticised him for only going to see his doctor this week “knowing he was due in court”.

Judge Batiste said: “If he was genuinely seeking help it would have been months ago. I’m unimpressed by it. There is an attitude that many seem to have is that when they get a suspended sentence they play fast and loose with it.”

Addressing Jahan directly, he said: “You were remarkably fortunate not to be locked up immediately given the nature of your driving and the police chase you were involved in. I’m quite sure the recorder (judge) made it abundantly clear that if you did not co-operate you would be brought back to court and almost certainly locked up.

"The (doctor’s) note is perhaps one of the least impressive documents I have read. I find it difficult how a note can be produced in these circumstances, backdated so very far.”

But Judge Batiste gave him one last chance, along with an additional 20 hours of unpaid work, and told him: “You were remarkably close to going to prison today. There should be no doubt about it in your mind, you are in the last chance saloon.”