Following a two-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Rachel Brand KC secured the conviction of a 41-year-old man for the murder of a young mother. The jury deliberated for just under 6 hours.
Mohammed Azim, a recovery truck driver from Tipton, was accused of using his vehicle as a weapon to murder his girlfriend Lily Whitehouse, who had just been to visit her baby in a neonatal intensive care unit. Following the incident the defendant claimed he had witnessed another vehicle hit the victim in a hit-and-run, but during his evidence to the court Azim admitted that his initial account was untrue.
The defence argued that Azim would not have called emergency services if the intent was to kill or cause serious injury, whilst Rachel Brand KC argued that the defendant initially provided false accounts of the incident, and had continued to do so during his evidence in court when he claimed that he did not intend to kill or injure Lily and that her death was a tragic accident. The police recovered CCTV footage which captured both audio and video footage of the defendant’s recovery truck pursuing the victim at low speed, before the truck goes out of view and an audible bang can be heard, believed to be the truck striking a lamppost and crushing the victim.
The case has attracted national media coverage:
The defendant was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Monday 22nd June 2026 to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years.
Rachel Brand KC was instructed by CPS West Midlands. The junior barrister working with her was Robert Price who is employed by CPS West Midlands.