'Sicknote' Leeds teen driver told he is walking 'a thin tightrope' with jail

Syed Jahan was given a community punishment last year which included 120 hours of unpaid work when he was convicted of dangerous driving when he tried to outrun police in Leeds.

But following a series of breaches in which he failed to do the work, and also gave the unimpressed judge a sicknote from a doctor that was backdated four months, Judge Simon Batiste has given him one final warning.

Appearing this week to answer a further breach, Leeds Crown Court heard that the 19-year-old had recently improved and had now completed more than 90 hours of the 120 he faced.

Jahan was told by Judge Batiste: “I have made it very clear what I was going to do today but it appears, very late in the day, that you have realised the serious position you are in. I’m told you are now doing the work and doing it well.

"I will give you three weeks and by then I expect you to have completed the unpaid work and have no further absences. If you comply, I won’t lock you up. If you don’t, I will. You are walking an incredibly thin tightrope.”

Jahan, of Linden Grove, Beeston, was originally convicted of dangerous driving in October last year for leading officers on a chase through Hunslet in his red VW Passat before smashing into the central reservation of a dual carriageway.

He was given a 24-month sentence, suspended for 24 months, an 18-month driving ban and 100 hours of unpaid work. This was later increased to 120 hours when he failed to make progress.

During the last hearing he handed Judge Batiste a sicknote signed by his doctor explaining why he was not able to carry out the work, having been in a car crash.

Backdated four months, it left the judge unimpressed. He told Jahan: “The 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.”