A Muslim solicitor's career is over after she was given a suspended prison sentence for a plot to convince an alcoholic to take her father's speeding points.
Asha Khan went to extraordinary lengths to keep her disgrace secret, convincing a judge to have reporting of her trial banned for 'cultural reasons' of the shame it would bring on her family until the Daily Mail challenged her attempt and won a victory for open justice.
She had tried to cover for her father after he was caught speeding in 2010 as he drove along Jesmond Road in Newcastle.
Asha Khan (left) was involved in a plot to cover for her her father, Mohammed Khan (right), after he was caught speeding. Property mogul and convenience store owner Mohammed had kept silent when the police issued a fixed penalty notice to the family address in Jesmond Road, Newcastle
Property mogul and convenience store owner Mohammed Khan was caught by a speed camera in Newcastle while driving his daughter's silver BMW.
He had then refused to own up when the police issued a fixed penalty notice to the family address.
Ms Khan covered up for her father by sending officers the details of one of her brother’s friends, recovering alcoholic David Moat, and stating he had been the driver.
After she was charged she convinced a judge that her trial be held in secret because members of their family would pass judgment if the case was reported.
But the Daily Mail successfully challenged the restrictions in April last year.
Judge Peter Hughes reversed his original ban after deciding that the principle of open justice was more important than saving the embarrassment of a defendant.
Ms Khan has now been sentenced to a 10 month suspended sentence and 12 months supervision after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Recorder of York, Stephen Ashurst, drew comparisons with the Chris Huhne scandal.
Former Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne became the first minister to be forced out of the Cabinet by criminal charges in February 2012.
He was jailed in March 2013 for eight months for dodging a speeding ban by making his ex-wife Vicky Pryce take the penalty points.
Pryce, who was convicted after a retrial because the original jury could not reach a verdict, also received an eight month sentence.
Asha Khan sent officers the details of one of her brother's friends, recovering alcoholic David Moat (left), who had been coaxed into the scam with the offer of half a bottle of whisky. Asha's brother Kashif (right) was initially accused of the crime too, but was later acquitted
Any future career in law is now in tatters for Ms Khan, with a dishonesty conviction on her criminal record making it impossible for her to practice as a solicitor.
The 31-year-old of Grainger Park Road, Newcastle, who suffers from dyslexia, studied for 10 years to work as a trainee solicitor at her family’s Newcastle-based KK Solicitors firm, but it was brought to an abrupt halt when she was arrested and put in police cells after the scam emerged.
She was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice, while her brother and fellow solicitor, Kashif, 34, who was also accused of the crime, was acquitted of the charge after successfully arguing that he didn't know what was going on.
Sentencing them at York Crown Court, Recorder Ashurst said: 'At the heart of this case in an initial theme - a theme of lies to protect you, Mohammed Khan, from the consequences of your driving.
'Put simply, had you been honest from the start the very considerable turmoil many members of your families have suffered could have been avoided.'
Mohammed Khan was caught speeding twice in 2008 but made a bogus disclosure to police in which he claimed someone else was driving his Jaguar along Jesmond Road, Newcastle.
On August 14, 2010 he was again captured on speed cameras breaking the limit in his daughter’s BMW, which he had given to her as a graduation present, but refused to take the blame.
Ms Khan was only linked to the 2010 offences.
The day before Moat was due before magistrates, Ms Khan's brother faxed the court a letter on Moat’s behalf, saying he wanted to plead guilty by post.
Moat was then fined £100 with £30 costs and six penalty points for the speeding offence.
Moat was sentenced with Asha and Mohammed Khan this week, and got a six month suspended sentence and 12 months supervision for his part in the scam.
During the sentencing hearing at York Crown Court, Ms Khan’s barrister Glenn Gatland produced references from barristers and professionals across Tyneside’s legal spectrum and said she had been subject to racist abuse during her life.
Mr Gatland said: 'She speaks very movingly about how their father would drive them to school in Sunderland where, in the 1990s, they were subject to bullying because of the clothes they wore, and there was a degree of racism against her and her young sister.
He claimed she had 'succumbed to family pressure' because of her Muslim background.
Robin Patton, mitigating for Mohammed Khan, said he had developed arthritis, diabetes and the early onset of dementia. He said: 'He feels enormous pain at the situation his own children have been forced to confront.'
He also said the Mohammed Khan had suffered abuse when he ran a shop in Pennywell in Sunderland, where 'racist abuse was a way of punctuating a sentence'.
The 70-year-old, of Grainger Park Road, Newcastle, entered guilty pleas to perverting the course of justice and insurance offences.
He was handed a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £650 costs.
HOW THE DAILY MAIL CHALLENGED REPORTING RESTRICTIONS
Mohammed Khan kept silent when the police issued a fixed penalty notice to the family address
A judge initially banned reporting of the case of Asha Khan, 30, and her brother Kashif, 34, to prevent them allegedly being shamed in the eyes of their community.
The pair were told they could enjoy the court’s protection because members of their family would pass judgment if the case was reported.
It is a privilege rarely bestowed on defendants in the justice system, which has operated on the principle of transparency for centuries.
However, following a challenge by the Daily Mail in April last year, the restriction was lifted – enabling the case to be reported from December.
Judge Peter Hughes reversed his original ban after deciding that the principle of open justice was more important than saving the embarrassment of a defendant.
The Daily Mail successfully challenged the reporting restrictions last year
At the beginning of the hearings last year, Miss Khan’s barrister, Glenn Gatland, argued she would not give evidence properly in the presence of the Press because she was afraid of family repercussions.
He said she did not want to criticise her father in public – though she was quite happy to have her mother sit in the public gallery.
‘Miss Khan is quite upset that if matters are reported she doesn’t feel she would be able to give her evidence as freely as she would have done otherwise,’ said Mr Gatland at the time. ‘Culturally, it’s very difficult for them to say things in public. The evidence would be impacted on by the cultural background of Miss Khan.’
Judge Hughes accepted the argument and banned reporting of the case but then changed his mind after the legal argument from the Mail. ‘We are dealing with members of the legal profession charged with perverting the course of justice,’ he said.
‘People of all faiths or no faiths should be treated in precisely the same way. We’re not dealing with discrimination against. We’re dealing with discrimination for.’
The Daily Mail successfully challenged reporting restrictions put in place after the family claimed they would be shamed in their community
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