A personal trainer who killed a grandfather in a high-speed smash on a Black Country road deserved every day of his ten-year sentence for his shocking driving, judges have ruled.

Kamran Abbasi Raja, 37, was driving at almost double the 40mph limit shortly before he struck Edward Harris' Honda in Wolverhampton Road, Brandhall, in April 2015.

Raja, of Gospel Farm Road, Acocks Green, sent Mr Harris' car careering down the road, causing multiple injuries to the 85-year-old.

Charged with causing death by dangerous driving, Raja initially blamed Mr Harris, but eventually pleaded guilty last September.

He was sentenced to 10 years' jail at Wolverhampton Crown Court and now senior judges in London have rejected his bid for a cut in the term. Raja appeared in a video taken inside HMP Birmingham just days into his sentence where insults were aimed to another man.

Mr Justice Dingemans told the Court of Appeal that the attempt to blame the deceased and Raja's long record for driving offences made the offence worse.

Witnesses spoke of Raja driving like an "idiot", aggressively overtaking and undertaking other motorists, said the judge.

Killer driver Kamran Raja broadcast from HMP Birmingham

Mr Harris was performing a normally safe manoeuvre, crossing the dual carriageway when his car was hit by Raja's high-powered Audi.

"This was a prolonged, persistent and deliberate course of bad driving," continued the judge.


"Those showed aggressive driving, overtaking and undertaking inappropriately in a 40mph area.


The judge, sitting with Judge Michael Topoloski QC and Lord Justice Holroyde, dismissed Raja's bid for a cut in his sentence.

In September, we told how Raja was under investigation after appearing in mobile phone footage posted online - from inside HMP Birmingham.

Just two days into his ten-year sentence, he appeared in the video uploaded to social media - where insults were seemingly aimed at another man.

Raja was surrounded by almost a dozen other inmates in the cell footage - many with their faces covered to hide their identity.

Staff at the G4S-run prison raided a cell after being made aware of the footage, as it is illegal for inmates to have mobile phones.

West Midlands Police also launched an investigation.