Readers of this article who live in towns or districts with a high density of Asian settlers will be familiar with the aggressive, macho posturing attitudes of young Asian men, particularly those from the Islamic Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Afghan communities. This tragic story which took place on the M66 motorway in May 2023, near Bury in Lancashire, was the direct result of that macho posturing culture.
May 13th 2023
Frankie Joules-Hough was driving up the M66 when she punctured a tyre and pulled over onto the hard shoulder to arrange rescue. She had three children in the car with her, her two young sons and her nephew. Frankie was using her mobile phone to contact her partner Calvin to inform him of her predicament and was then speaking to her father when the call was interrupted by Frankie screaming.
Adil Iqbal had just smashed his car into the stationary Skoda Fabia, he was driving at over 90 mph. Frankie Joules-Hough was a 38-year-old mother of two and was 17 weeks pregnant with an expected daughter. She was also a former TV ‘soap actress’, when she was a teenager Frankie had a role in the Channel Four TV series “Holyoaks”.
Appearing before Manchester Minsull Street Crown Court, Adil Iqbal age 22 years, admitted his dangerous driving, (difficult to deny given all the video footage recorded on his phone!). The court heard that Iqbal was driving his father’s BMW 140i up the M66 and was recording his driving on his mobile phone, at times he reached a speed of 123 mph.
The court heard that his plan was to post the video of his high-speed driving on social media, possibly on Facebook. He only stopped filming when he dropped his mobile phone as the car went out of control. Adil Iqbal was driving with one hand and filming with his phone in his other hand, including clips of himself posing while driving. The BMW was tailgating other vehicles, suddenly switching lanes, undertaking and over taking other cars at high speed.
In the fatal final minutes, Adil Iqbal undertook a motorbike, lost of control of the BMW, hit a crash barrier, spun the car and ploughed into Frankie Jules-Hough’s stationary car on the hard shoulder. Police estimated that his BMW 140i was travelling at 92 mph when it struck the Skoda. Adil Iqbal was shaken but not seriously injured.
The trial heard a victim impact statement from Frankie’s father, Frank Hough, stating that his daughter was killed and his family devastated; “all because a young man wanted to show off, wanted to show his friends on social media how daring and cool he thought he was.” What was not said in court was that this kind of arrogant, macho posturing inn a high-end car is exactly in keeping with the materialistic culture of young south-Asian men.
Passing sentence, the trial judge, Mr Maurice Greene, stated, “She was killed as a result of the most indescribable reckless driving by you, Adil Iqbal, leading to the devastation of a family.” But Adil Iqbal was only sentenced to only 12 years in prison; on one count of causing death by dangerous driving, and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Franke Jules-Hough died in hospital from her catastrophic injuries less than 24 hours later, she never regained consciousness. The baby girl that Frankie was expecting died too. Her youngest son, Rocky, age two, survived the crash with minor injuries, but his mother is dead and his brother is in a coma.
The two young boys, Frankie’s son Thomas, age nine and his cousin Tobias, age four are still in hospital suffering from massive head and internal injuries. Both boys were facing weeks in the intensive care unit and at the time of the court trial of Asil Iqbal, both boys were in a coma and their future prospects were declared to be “uncertain”. The two boys could well face a life time of hospital care and might not
survive into adult life.
Yet Adil Iqbal was only sentenced to twelve years in prison. That is not justice.
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Top Image: Adil Iqbal, of Hope Street, Accrington. Image: Greater Manchester Police.
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