A man has been sentenced to life for murdering his 19-year-old girlfriend after deliberately driving his Mercedes Sprinter van into her. 

Mohammed Azim, 41, of Tividale Road, Tipton was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court today (Monday 22 June) to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years for the murder of Lily Whitehouse following his conviction on Friday.

The court heard that Azim collected Ms Whitehouse from the bus stop in his recovery truck after she had spent the evening visiting her newborn baby in the neonatal intensive care unit at Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley. 

However, instead of driving her to her home in Oldbury, he drove past the address and drove to a different location on Old Park Lane, Dudley where she got out of the vehicle.

He was captured on CCTV pursuing her in his vehicle before he struck her with it. After fatally injuring her, he placed her in the cab of his truck and then called 999, falsely claiming she had been hit by a passing vehicle. Azim then drove to Park Street where he removed her from the cab and placed her on the pavement while still on the call to emergency services.

Building the case

The Crown Prosecution Service worked closely with West Midlands Police to build a strong case using multiple strands of evidence.

CCTV footage with audio from a primary school on Old Park Lane was the most significant evidence. It showed the vehicle running idle for 16 minutes before Ms Whitehouse got out. She is then seen walking before beginning to run as Azim pursues her in his Mercedes Sprinter vehicle. As the vehicle is seen to move out of camera view, a loud bang can be heard which the CPS identified as the sound of the vehicle crushing Ms Whitehouse against a lamppost.

Because Azim moved Miss Whitehouse’s body to Park Street and lied to emergency services about what had happened, time was lost during which potentially vital evidence may have been destroyed. The prosecution was therefore built by painstakingly piecing together the surrounding circumstances, including the CCTV footage, the 999 call and body-worn police camera footage of the defendant's false account, and findings of a Home Office pathologist whose post-mortem examination confirmed that Miss Whitehouse’s injuries were consistent with being struck by a vehicle.

The CPS proved that the medical evidence and CCTV were entirely inconsistent with the defendant's claim that Ms Whitehouse had been killed in a hit and run. 

Robert Skinner from the Crown Prosecution Service said: "This was a deliberate, brutal and calculated attack in which Mohammed Azim used a vehicle as a weapon to kill his teenage girlfriend. 

“No one directly witnessed the murder, and Azim went to considerable lengths to cover his tracks and claim Lily had been a victim of a hit-and-run, yet the jury, after carefully considering the evidence, held him accountable for his actions. 

"This case presented real challenges. The defendant moved the victim's body and concealed the location of the killing, resulting in lost time and potentially destroyed evidence. 

“Despite this, the prosecution was able to present multiple strands of evidence including CCTV footage, medical findings, and the defendant's own false statements, to build a coherent case that ruled out any suggestion of accidental death.

"This case sends a clear message that violence, particularly in the context of relationships, will be robustly prosecuted, and that attempts to mislead emergency services and investigators will not succeed. Our thoughts are with Ms Whitehouse’s family.

“The Crown Prosecution Service will continue to work closely with the police to ensure that those who commit serious offences against women and girls are brought to justice, no matter how complex the circumstances."