The seizure of the luxury car is now at the centre of an extraordinary court case where West Midlands Police is being sued for £200,000 by the fugitive. County court papers revealing new details of the civil case brought by Zahid Khan were obtained by Birmingham Live, and show how police swooped to seize the supercar after he arrogantly posted a picture of it parked on the pavement outside Birmingham Crown Court - following an appearance at the nearby magistrates' court.
The fugitive, from Moseley, has been on the run since June 2018 after being jailed in his absence for ten years over a £500,000 number plate fraud. Khan fled part-way through his trial. Since then he has been regularly posting pictures and videos from his bolt hole in Dubai on Facebook.
However, his car remained in police custody and was later crushed, because it had no valid insurance and was a Category B vehicle - according to the police vehicles designated as such are classed as unroadworthy, meaning the shell has to be destroyed.
Khan disputes this claiming the vehicle was insured and has an expert report to prove it was roadworthy. But while living 4,500 miles away he has continued with legal action in the UK against West Midlands Police over the loss of his Ferrari, which he claims was worth £200,000 if broken down and sold as parts.
According to Birmingham Live, his legal team stated it was wrongly seized and destroyed by the force, claiming their client had valid insurance, according to particulars of claim lodged at Birmingham County Court.
West Midlands Police has denied all the claims and point out Khan is a convicted fraudster, consequently whose evidence cannot be trusted, who had denied owning the car to police in the past. The force also refutes all suggestions any officers acted improperly in the seizure and destruction of the vehicle, which they claim should not have been insured as Khan had misled insurers about its Category B status and his past road offences.
The force pointed out in its defence that Khan had given various insurers wildly differing alleged values for the vehicle when obtaining insurance and had claimed to them that he was an airline pilot and worked in the catering industry.
The force said in its defence papers that officers became aware the car was a Category B vehicle after Khan parked it on the pavement outside Birmingham Crown Court. He had been appearing at the nearby magistrates court on other matters at the time.
Cheeky Khan had posted an image of the striking car on social media, in what was widely seen at the time as an apparent dig at cops who were investigating him. The stunt was highlighted in a Birmingham Mail story the following day.
"The Claimant was photographed with the vehicle... and officers read the article," force defence court papers state. "A vehicle check was carried out and officers became aware it was a Category B vehicle... As a result a marker was placed on the vehicle on the PNC to seize the vehicle."
Khan was stopped in Acocks Green by officers weeks later and placed in handcuffs, before being released. His Ferrari was seized, Khan claims he has been given conflicting reasons for the seizure, an allegation denied by the force.
Police later released a video of the moment the car was crushed. The Ferrari was destroyed at a Birmingham scrapyard.
But in court papers, Khan claimed "the Ferrari was seized and retained by the Defendant (West Midlands Police) without proper or lawful basis. The conduct of the Defendant, by its officers... constituted misconduct in public office and wrongful interference with the claimant's property by means of trespass to goods."
Khan's court claim stated that the vehicle had been bought at auction and admitted it had been classed as a Category B vehicle. But they claimed repairs had been carried out at an approved garage using Ferrari parts and that it was roadworthy and insured at the time their client was stopped by police.
Khan's papers claim: "The vehicle was a highly valuable asset both in its complete form and/or as a donor vehicle for parts. The Claimant estimates the vehicle had a value in excess of £130,000 and if stripped of parts and sold in that way closer to £200,000."
The legal team claimed he had answered all questions truthfully with his insurance providers and was 'not aware' at that time that he had three penalty points on his licence.
West Midlands Police has denied Khan's claims of improper conduct in their statement of defence to the court. The force said: "The defendant will rely upon the Claimant's conviction for fraud and his sentence of 10 years imprisonment in June 2018 at any trial as evidence of his dishonest character and unreliability of any evidence he may give."
West Midlands Police denied in its court defence that the Ferrari could have been lawfully rebuilt "having been declared a write-off and categorised as a Category B vehicle". A force lawyer also claimed in their response document that Khan had failed to disclose the Category B status of the vehicle to his original insurers, who had cancelled his policy once alerted by cops after the car was seized.
The force also claims he made 'multiple' dishonest claims to gain insurance, including failure to disclose penalty points and claiming he was an airline pilot. The force also claims a report from a Birmingham garage showed mechanics had identified £10,000 of 'red fault' repairs needed on the car after Khan had brought it in.
These included dangerous front brakes, an airbag fault and movement in the front wheel - "meaning the wheel could come off." But despite the issues, Khan refused to authorise the repairs, claimed the force in its court submission.
At the time the force saw the photograph of the car outside the court, Khan's assets were subject to a court freezing order. His civil claim alleges that police via the CPS wrongly applied to have the car removed from a list of frozen assets in order to ultimately have it destroyed.
West Midlands Police's court defence papers strongly refute this claim and maintain that Khan had previously stated that he did not own the vehicle. The force's defence insists that officers acted in the interests of public protection.
A three-hour hearing in the case was due to take place in February but was cancelled. The force has applied to have the entire case thrown out.
No further dates have yet been set. An extradition request to the UAE authorities for the return of Khan to the UK is understood to remain in place. Khan, originally of Yardley Wood Road, had fled the country before a separate court case started at Canterbury Crown Court.
He and two other men were found guilty of conspiring/assisting in unlawful immigration into the UK. He was sentenced, in his absence, to 30 months in his absence for that offence.
The court heard the playboy fraudster had tried to smuggle illegal Afghan immigrants into the UK in the back of his tyre lorry. The conman had travelled to Europe on the pretence of buying stock for his Sparkhill company, based in Stratford Road.
But when his lorry returned to Dover off a P&O ferry customs officials swooped. They discovered five Afghan nationals. Khan was sentenced to 30 months in his absence for that offence.
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