Eight years for Leeds driver who carjacked millionaire before killing cabbie

Paul Pilotille was today starting an eight-year prison sentence after a judge told him that he had one of the worst records for driving offences he had seen in 35 years.

Leeds Crown Court heard that the 30-year-old, of Stanmore Grove in Burley, Leeds, was speeding at nearly three times the 20mph limit when his stolen BMW crashed into Mohammed Yousaf’s taxi on Argie Avenue in Kirkstall on June 23, this year.

Pilotille and a passenger, Shahid Hussain, ran off after the collision, leaving father-of-five Mr Yousaf half slumped out of his car with a fatal head injury.

Hussain, who described Pilotille as driving like a “maniac”, went to the police after hearing of 49-year-old Mr Yousaf’s death.

Having arrested Pilotille for causing death by dangerous driving, detectives then found out he had committed an offence of aggravated vehicle taking on November 9, last year.

In that incident he sped off from Hunslet Carr Sports and Social Club in south Leeds, in a car hired by a crew who were filming The Secret Millionaire.

Internationally-renowned theatre producer David King, who was donating money to good causes as part of the Channel 4 programme, was sitting in the passenger seat at the time.

He pleaded with Pilotille to stop the car and managed to get out when he screeched to a stop a short distance from the club. The car was later found abandoned nearby.

Pilotille had 21 previous convictions for 102 offences, the vast majority of which were vehicle-related.

Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said: “In my 35 years, this is one of the worst criminal records for driving and other offences.”

Passing an extended sentence of imprisonment, which means Pilotille must serve three years on licence after his release, the judge said the defendant was a danger to the public.