To think a coked up drink driver who kills a six year old should get more?

[caffelattetogo]

Than six years in prison?

That poor mum. Her six year old daughter was on the street near her house when a car mounted the pavement
www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/i-just-want-pain-go-7620221

[Comefromaway]

Our local MP is going to write to the Attorney General apparently. I hope that happens but Jonathan Gullis is known for his big words and lack of action.

Yeah, good luck with that one with Gullis.

[Comefromaway]

This is local to me. It was horrific. That poor little girl and her poor family. Her father must see the image every day.

I don't care if the driver is a "good father" to his own children and feels remorse, he took away the life of an innocent child and destroyed her family for ever.

[Brefugee]

You all have your chance now. You have the absolute cruellest government on record - start lobbying them to change the sentencing guidelines for this, and make it easier to try these cases for at least manslaughter rather than reckless driving.

[whynotwhatknot]

Yes youre right it prbabvly hadnt come in yet-shocking really this family has been torn apart yet this man will be out living his life like normal

[KilledByWitches]

Happened around the corner from my friend. It's impacted the entire community, the children she went to school with etc.
Our local MP is going to write to the Attorney General apparently. I hope that happens but Jonathan Gullis is known for his big words and lack of action.

[CulturePigeon]

I'm not a lawyer, so will probably get shot down in flames, but I feel that the law hasn't really caught up with the motor car, after over 100 years. A car is a lethal weapon as well as a mode of transport (in a way that a train isn't, usually) but deaths caused by drivers tend to be seen as driving offences rather than involuntary manslaughter. I do realise there are degrees of culpability, but some driver behaviour is not punished enough.

I think, whether it's drugs or drink - to get into a car in an unfit state should be punished very severely, as should swiping through dating websites on your mobile while hurtling along the motorway at 75 miles an hour at the wheel of a 40-ton juggernaut (this was the cause of a terrible pile-up a while back which killed a number of people - lorry driver on mobile for hours on end while driving).

Similarly (but off the point), it seems to be taking forever for the law to catch up with the internet and all the possible nightmare range of crimes which are commited there!

[caffelattetogo]

I don't think that had come in when this crime was committed. I can't stop thinking about that poor little girl and her family. You spend so long teaching them it's safe on the pavement.

[whynotwhatknot]

why did i think theyd changed death by dangeous driving sentences to manslaughter so they could get life

or has that not come in yet

[Bagpuss2022]

This is awful that poor mum and the dad too it’s torn the family apart not only the devastating loss of Sharlotte but the marriage too.
Disgusting sentence out in 3 years you get more for fraud!

[AliceUK]

Not enough. I am in bits reading this, absolutely devastating. She had so many things in common with my little girl, I can’t imagine what the family are going through and I am sobbing my heart out for them, it is just so unfair 💔

[5foot5]

@caffelattetogo

The guidelines were between 9 and 14 years. It is an insultingly low sentence. I can't imagine how that poor family must feel.

Between 9 and 14? I didn't know that.

My elderly aunt and another pensioner were killed at a bus stop by a driver who was drunk and had taken heroin. He had his young children in the car with him but left them in the car when he fled the scene.

He got 8 years!

[MojoMoon]

It's incredibly hard to get drivers convicted of death by dangerous driving as opposed to death by careless driving.

Dangerous driving is defined as ‘the way you drive falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver, and it would be obvious to a competent and careful driver that driving in that way would be dangerous’.

Jurors and magistrates seem to be reluctant to convict based on that description - my theory is because most of them are drivers and also speed/look at their phone/have a drink too sometimes.

And then judges give very soft sentences to drivers when they are convicted. Did you see the case in Bristol today? A van driver who hit a cyclist deliberately with his van, knocked him to the floor and then got out his van and punched him, knocking him unconscious got a suspended sentence despite have a previous conviction for attacking a cyclist.

We have a driving culture which leans so far towards as assumed RIGHT to drive that it outweighs public safety

[FruitPastilleNut]

Fucking awful. 3 years he'll do, for killing a 6 year old. He should have got 20.

[ThatDamnedDog]

I live in the same county as where this happened, and it’s even more shocking than it first appears. This is his second drunk driving offence in recent years, we have appalling judges in our court system. Glenn, who presided over this case, is notorious for poor sentencing even for the most heinous of crimes.

I can’t imagine what her poor family are going through, and to see this vile excuse for a human getting such a pathetic sentence will be adding insult to injury.

Pissed up, coked up, no seat belt, on the phone and doing 48mph in a 30 zone, utter bastard. He got 3 years knocked off for his guilty plea, and as it isn’t a violent offence he will be out in 3 years!

Hopefully he will get his sentence massively increased if they are successful in getting the attorney general to review it.

[MugginsOverEre]

Let's hope that when he gets out after half his sentence, someone gets high and mows him down. They could be out in just 3 years and get away with murder just like he has.

[lannistunut]

For years they've talked of sorting this out, but they never do. Sentences for driving offences across the board are too lenient.

[PanPacificBallroomChampion]

Death by dangerous driving has historically had low sentences but there’s only outrage at a seemingly more tragic death. They’re all tragic.
www.meramirpur.com/hit-and-run-driver-rahman-21-jailed-for-2-years-for-killing-man-39-in-northampton/

[Tigofigo]

YANBU. It should be treated as manslaughter / murder. Getting behind the wheel when intoxicated is premeditated. That poor family.

[Verytirednow]

Absolutely bloody shocking! If my child was killed because of a drug user I would literally be eaten up with anger and grief for the rest of my life!

[AluckyEllie]

I think all drink and drug related driving crimes should have much harsher sentences. They may say they didn’t set out to cause injury but we all know you shouldn’t drink and drive. The minute you get behind the wheel you are guilty.
I worked for years in ICU with driving related injuries and many times it wasn’t the guilty party injured but some poor innocent person going about their day, wrong time and place. He killed a child. I hope that haunts him every minute of the day the scumbag

[SerendipitySunshine]

@SomeSquirrelsAreBlack

He will only serve half, won't he?

Yes, most likely half.

[Georgeskitchen]

Should have been life with minimum tariff of 25 yeara

[SomeSquirrelsAreBlack]

He will only serve half, won't he?

[caffelattetogo]

The guidelines were between 9 and 14 years. It is an insultingly low sentence. I can't imagine how that poor family must feel.

[MissingNashville]

Selfish bastard. He should be in prison for life.

That poor baby girl and her family. There’s no words. So many lives devastated.