A banned driver who mowed down and killed a couple with FIFTEEN children as he tried to ‘beat the lights’ has been locked up.

Mobein Ali ploughed his Vauxhall Corsa into Michael Ward, 45, and Paula Jolly, 37, as they stepped into the road in Hulme shortly before 10pm on the wet and windy evening of December 23.

The victims were tossed into the air by the collision on Princess Road but Ali drove on, returning to the scene nearly an hour later with his parents and his partner.

There Ali was seen by police weeping and praying, saying: “Mummy I didn’t see the people, I didn’t see them.”

Ali later admitted causing death by careless driving, driving without insurance and without a licence. He denies failing to stop.

At the time of the accident Ali, 20, of Cromwell Avenue, Whalley Range had just had his licence revoked after racking up six penalty points for being uninsured.

Witnesses to the double tragedy said Ali was driving at ‘excessive speed’ for the weather conditions - and that it seemed as if he was trying to ‘beat the lights’.

Ms Jolly, from Hulme, who had five children, was pronounced dead at the scene. Mr Ward, from Broughton, Salford died shortly afterwards in hospital. Arrested, Ali said ‘I was going too fast’.

Ali’s barrister told his sentencing hearing the accident came after a ‘momentary lapse of attention’, adding: “Nothing in the investigation suggests that this man set out that evening to cause anyone any harm.

(Image: Eamonn & James Clarke)

“This was a tragic accident, contributed to by some of his actions, but no doubt other factors also came into play, like the weather and the fact that by chance Paula was wearing dark clothing which would have made it more difficult to see.

“It was raining hard - it’s likely that in that sort of weather anyone would probably want to move quickly to get out of such weather and that may be an explanation why (the victims) were to step off the pavement at the time that they did, when the defendant was no more than a second or two away. We will never know.”

Jailing him for 16 months as the victims’ families looked on, Judge David Stockdale QC said he had been concerned only for himself in the moments after the crash.

“Your priority was your own predicament. The standard of your driving was careless in the extreme”, the judge added.