Pilot who died in light aircraft crash 'sent mysterious text message minutes before death'

A businessman who died when his private aircraft crashed had been receiving death threats and sent a mysterious text message before his aeroplane went down, a coroner has heard.

Muhammad Naviede, 60, died last August when his leased Piper Tomahawk spun into a field, killing him instantly.

_{Muhammad Naviede photographed in 1995 (PA)}

Moments before the crash he sent a text message saying: “I’m in a plane out of control and it’s going down.”

Investigators found the aircraft did not enter its fatal spin until two minutes after the message was sent. Mr Naviede had also told members of his family and a solicitor that he had received death threats in the weeks before the crash.

An inquest jury may now be invited to consider a verdict of unlawful killing when a full hearing into the tragedy takes place in December.

A pre-inquest hearing in Beaconsfield, Bucks., heard that Mr Naviede was an experienced pilot who should have been able to regain control of the aircraft when it went into the spin near the village of Padbury.

An Air Accident Investigation Branch report said the text message he had sent was “unusual” because the aircraft continued in level flight for more than two minutes after it was sent.

The text was sent to Mr Naviede's brother Pervaiz, whom he had tried to call from his mobile phone moments earlier.

The message required him to write 148 characters within 25 seconds, something the AAIB said "would require considerable dexterity, especially in an aircraft that may have been out of control”.

Bob Moxon Browne QC, representing one of Mr Naviede's life insurers, said jurors should be given a direction to consider unlawful killing in the case.

Emails sent by Mr Naviede to those close to him showed reference to the threats, he said, although there were no direct examples of the threats themselves.

Mr Moxon Browne told the hearing in Beaconsfield, Bucks.: "If someone says someone threatened you and in two weeks you are dead, you'd want to put that to the jury."

Mr Naviede, who once had a personal fortune estimated at £117 million, was the brother of the former Government race advisor Nighat Awan, who once entertained Cherie Blair at her home in Cheshire.

He was the former head of the trade finance company Arrows, which collapsed owing more than £100 million to overseas banks and other creditors in 1991.

In 1995, a jury at the Old Bailey convicted him of seven charges of fraudulent trading, obtaining property and services by deception and making false statements to obtain bank facilities. He was jailed for nine years.

Among those attending the pre-inquest hearing were his daughter Raquelle Gracie, a model and former X-Factor contestant.

She heard that investigators found no fault with the aircraft, no evidence of third party involvement and said weather conditions were unlikely to have caused the crash.

On the day of the crash, Mr Naviede had flown from Elstree, Herts., to Turweston Aerodrome before heading on to White Waltham airfield near Maidenhead, Berks.

He was then due to return to Elstree, but at 4.55pm Mr Naviede telephoned the aerodrome to say he would not be returning that day. He did not book an alternative destination.

The plane took off from White Waltham shortly after 5pm, heading north. Just south of Buckingham, he began to fly in a circle for almost an hour, during which time he made a number of calls on his mobile telephone.

The aircraft turned to the left as the pilot sent out a Mayday distress call, saying: "Lost control of the aircraft and it's gone into a spin."

Mr Naviede then confirmed his location to the controller before saying: "I can't control it."

Coroner for Buckinghamshire Richard Hulett said he would call independent eyewitnesses, members of the emergency services, family, lawyers and a range of aviation experts to create a whole picture of Mr Naviede's final moments.