Speeding driver jailed over death of nine-year-old Halifax girl

A speeding driver who killed a nine-year-old girl after failing to stop at a red light has been jailed.

Qadeer Hussain was travelling at nearly 20mph above the 30mph speed limit when he hit Alice Williams with his Vauxhall Corsa as she used a pedestrian crossing in Halifax in July 2023.

Hussain, 55, of Essex Street, Halifax, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving in February and was sentenced to eight years and five months in prison earlier at Bradford Crown Court.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “Today’s sentence will not bring Alice back to her family, but I hope it provides a level of closure that Hussain has been prosecuted for his actions.”

Hussain was also disqualified from driving for 10 years and two months.

Alice was struck on King Cross Street as she was walking home from the dentist with her mother and younger brother.

Prosecutor James Lake said Hussain “made a deliberate decision to run the red light at high speed in the belief that nobody was crossing the road”.

Alice suffered a “catastrophic” brain injury from which doctors said she would never recover and she died two days later.

The court heard that Hussain initially claimed he was only travelling at up to 30mph and that Alice ran towards his car.

Officers later found he was driving at 49mph and the lights had been red for seven seconds.

Alice’s mother Claire Williams said in a victim impact statement that she was “soaked in pain about the enormous injustice” of her daughter’s death and that Hussain’s “second victim” was Alice’s grieving family.

“The wound will never heal – I see chest-crushing, white-hot rage when I see you.

“You stole everything from us.”

The court also heard a statement from Alice’s brother, who said he wants to “live in a house with four people again, not three.”

He also said: “If I have three we always have a spare room and a spare chair.

“I miss my sister. She was really good at Minecraft.”

Hussain’s barrister said he had a clean driving licence and no previous convictions and “did not want to drive again”.

He also said Hussain felt “genuine remorse”.

The Williams family added that video footage submitted by witnesses had helped to prove the case against Hussain and urged drivers to “please buy a dashcam”.

They said: “We want our wonderful girl to be known for more than just her tragic, needless death. Alice was ours – a happy, bright bookworm; a funny, loving and gentle daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend. We will always be so proud of her.”

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