Driver jailed for crushing girlfriend to death

A recovery truck driver who murdered his teenage girlfriend by crushing her against a lamp post with his vehicle has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.

Mohammed Azim had initially blamed Lily Whitehouse's death in Oldbury, West Midlands, on a hit-and-run crash involving an unknown driver.

The court heard the 41-year-old used his truck as a weapon to pin his 19-year-old victim against a lamp post during an argument on 5 November, his birthday.

The court was shown CCTV footage of Azim pushing the teenager with his vehicle before causing catastrophic chest injuries.

It happened after he had collected Whitehouse from the bus stop.

She had spent the evening visiting her newborn baby in the neonatal intensive care unit at Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley.

Jurors took less than six hours to find Azim guilty by a majority of 10 to two of murder on Friday after a two-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Passing sentence on Monday, Judge Mr Justice Murray said: "Your decision to kill Lily was spontaneous, but you would have been aware she had a five-week-old baby still in hospital.

"The baby has lost her mother forever at the very beginning of her life.

"Although Lily was not particularly vulnerable… she was a psychologically vulnerable young woman given her troubled background. She was very needy and dependent on you as you well knew."

He added: "It must have been apparent at the moment you drove your heavy truck at her, there was a substantial risk you could kill her by doing so.

"I cannot be sure you formed an intention to kill Lily when you hit her with your truck. I sentence on a basis that your intention was to cause her really serious harm."

Azim had been in an on-off relationship with the victim since 2023 after meeting her when she was 17.

On their relationship, the judge said: "I am satisfied that while much of the time you were supportive and kind, largely because you wanted to continue a sexual relationship with Lily, you were at times aggressive.

"It is clear the relationship was very much on your terms, which is not surprising given you were a much older man with more life experience."

His sentencing hearing was told he had previous convictions for possession of cannabis and evasion of duty on tobacco, as well as for an offence of battery in 2012.

The defendant kept his head down and wiped away tears as Whitehouse's cousin Katie told the court their world had "collapsed" when they were told what had happened.

She said: "Lily died in tragic and horrific circumstances. We find ourselves asking questions that can never be answered – what were her last thoughts and words when her killer crushed her with his truck? These thoughts haunt us daily."

Whitehouse's aunt Melissa Wheeler said in her statement the pain of losing her niece and best friend was "unbearable".

She said: "You were meant to love her, but you killed her. I hope you spend the rest of your life knowing what you did to Lily."

Imran Shafi KC, Azim's defence barrister, said his client's lies about the incident had been "unattractive", adding: "The lies were found out and obviously found out very quickly.

"He did, within seconds, contact emergency services. The lying was limited to who it was that caused the impact and also in relation to the location of where the incident took place. It had limited impact on the investigation thereafter."

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