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Parents of air hostess Charlotte Smoker demand illegal immigrant driver Zahid Masood be deported after M25 death crash

By: KentOnline reporter multimediadesk@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 00:01, 14 May 2013

Charlotte Smoker, who was killed on the M25 in 2003

The parents of a young woman killed by an illegal immigrant who smashed into her while talking on his mobile phone have demanded his deportation - after waiting 10 years for justice.

Air hostess Charlotte Smoker, 19, died when Pakistani national Zahid Masood - illegally living in Kent - ploughed into her hatchback after she crashed on the M25 in November 2003.

Her mother Michele, 51, and 52-year-old father Ian had to take the devastating decision to turn off her life support machine after being told she would never wake up.

Zahid Masood was jailed for four years and nine months

But the grieving family were forced to wait a decade to see her killer face justice after he fled Britain.

Masood, now 47, returned under his real name in 2007 and set up a new life in Heron Way, Lower Stoke on the Isle of Grain, near Rochester, as the owner of a temping agency and governor of his children's primary school.

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But he was eventually caught in November 2012 when routine credit checks revealed his identity and he was arrested and charged with the causing the fatal crash.

Earlier this month, Masood was jailed for four years after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and nine months for perverting the course of justice. He was also banned from driving for seven years.

Masood – who had gained leave to stay in Britain by enrolling at university in London, but never won British citizenship – was warned he faced deportation after his sentence.

But Charlotte's furious parents have demanded the death driver should be kicked out of Britain now.

Mr Smoker, who served in the RAF for 31 years, said it was "unacceptable" for their daughter's killer to be rehabilitated in a British prison – and should be forced to serve his time in Pakistan.

He said: "He only got nine months for perverting the course of justice, and we had nine years of struggle to come to terms with what we lost that evening.

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"He was able to come and go from this country as he pleased, using a different name and passport and move on with his life – never paying for what he did.

"Masood was able to set up a life for himself in this country, getting married and having children.

"When police told him what he had done the day Charlotte died, he simply ran away with no regard for the consequences of his actions – no regard for our laws.

"As a family, we want to see him deported back to Pakistan. We do not understand why he has been treated like a British citizen when he never behaved like one in the first place.

"Why should he have the benefit of our taxpayers' money and all the services we provide prisoners?"

The M25, stock picture.

Mr Smoker, of Basingstoke, Hampshire, added: "This will stay with me forever, when we came back to the UK after the accident and she was laid there on the life support.

"Her mum and her sister painted her nails and we said our goodbyes. She was so young - she was incredibly bright, she was our blonde haired sparkly eyed girl and she was robbed from us."

Public schoolgirl Charlotte was left exposed in the outside lane of the M25 after she lost control of her Fiat Cinquecento after leaving work at Stansted Airport, Essex, in 2003.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Masood failed to see Charlotte's car because he had been travelling a speeds of up to 90mph in his Ford Focus - while making business calls.

Ryanair hostess Charlotte had her hazard lights on and was desperately calling the RAC for help when he ploughed into her car, causing a fatal brain haemorrhage.

She was rushed to hospital where she was kept alive long enough for her air engineer father and nurse mother to fly in from Cyprus and switch off her ventilator.

Following the crash, police took down Masood’s details – but allowed him to leave the scene to recover from the trauma of the accident, the court heard.

Despite being hunted for Charlotte's death, Masood was able travel back and forth between Britain and Pakistan on business just a year later in 2004 using the name Ahmed Mukar – the same fake ID he had given police.

In 2007, the illegal immigrant returned to the UK using his real name by declaring "student" status, but working full time for his business Universal Workforce and even serving as a governor at The Hundred of Hoo School, which his children attended.

He was eventually discovered when financial investigators were able to match his two identities through routine credit checks of his business.

Sentencing Masood, Judge Philip Statman said: "The telling feature in this case in my judgement is that you were distracted because you were using a mobile phone to make a business call."

"You were distracted because you were using a mobile phone to make a business call..." - Judge Philip Statman

He added: "You made absolutely no effort on your return to the United Kingdom to surrender to the authorities. You probably thought you had got away with it."

Kent Police said it was not common procedure to arrest a person at the scene of a collision.

The force said that under the circumstances, officers at the scene made a decision that - due to Masood's injuries and being in shock - he was not fit to be interviewed or detained immediately after the collision.

DC Dave Holmes, from the Kent Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "Firstly, I would like to thank the witnesses in this case, for providing their evidence after all these years.

"Kent Police review all wanted person files and no case like this, is ever fully closed.

"I am satisfied that the Smoker family have finally been given some justice for their tragic loss, that was denied them for nine long years by Masood's selfish and criminal actions."

Charlotte is survived by her brother Timothy, 26, and 22-year-old sister Hannah.

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