Aneesha tested positive for THC during a roadside test (Picture: Cavendish Press)
A woman who tried to frame her own sister after she was caught drug-driving at 100mph on a motorway has been spared jail.
Former university criminology student Aneesha Khan, 25, falsely gave her sister Naila’s name and address when she was found to be three and a half times the limit for cannabis when stopped on the M6 on August 20 last year.
Naila knew nothing of the incident until she received a court notice in the post several weeks later and contacted police.
Inquiries revealed Khan had no licence to drive a friend’s car, as she had previously been banned from driving.
When quizzed Khan, of Belle Isle, Leeds, cited escaping an abusive marriage and claimed friends had ‘pressured’ her to drive the car and give her sister’s details in the event she was stopped – as Naila was insured to drive it.
At Chester Crown Court, Khan faced up to two years in jail under sentencing guidelines after she pleaded guilty to drug driving, perverting the course of public justice and driving without a driving licence.
The former criminology student is said to be remorseful (Picture: Cavendish Press)
But she was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for 18 months after Naiia wrote a glowing character reference saying her sister was ‘selfless’ and that the whole family was standing by her.
The court heard Khan had previously been banned from driving for six months in January 2023 for motoring offences .
She had been entitled to get her licence back the following July, but she did not apply for it.
On August 20 last year, Khan was spotted speeding along the Southbound carriageway of the M6 near Junction 20 at Lymm, Cheshire.
Prosecutor Peter Hussey said: ‘The defendant was some distance from her home address travelling at something approaching 100mph on what was a maximum speed limit of 70mph.
‘The officer decided that he would flag the car down at Tabley services and as he got there he drove in front of the defendant’s car, ordered her to stop and she followed him off the motorway and into the services area.
The THC in her system was 7mg – the legal limit is 2mg (Picture: Cavendish Press)
‘The officer describes how the defendant appeared relaxed but under the influence of something. Her concentration span was short. Her speech was slow and slurred and her eyes were glazed.
‘She was asked if she had used cannabis and she confirmed that she had. The officer conducted a roadside drug test for cannabis, she failed and as a result was arrested and transported to Middlewich custody suite where she was still providing the false but correct details of her sister.’
The court heard the test reading for THC in Khan’s system was seven micrograms per litre of blood – the legal limit is 2mg.
Defence counsel Gareth Roberts said: ‘For a young woman who has rarely been in trouble in her life, the reality that she could go to prison today has been a massive and profound lesson to her.
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‘Since then [August] she has changed her life. She no longer takes cannabis. She has re-embraced her faith and her family. She undertook a course and an apprenticeship in clinical support work. If she is able to, she will start work as a residential support worker for two children with mental health problems.
‘She is profoundly embarrassed about what she did that night by conduct that implicated her sister with whom she has a close relationship. The sister writes extremely lovingly of her sister in the reference. The family continues to support her.’
Khan was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and ten days of rehabilitation activity.
Judge Michael Leeming told her: ‘There is some remorse, a lack of maturity and that you have no experience of custody. There seems to be a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.’
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