DRUG DRIVER WHO KILLED BROTHERS FOUND DEAD IN PRISON
HE WAS SERVING 10 YEARS FOR CAUSING THE DEATHS OF YOUNG COREY AND CASPER
A DRUG driver who killed two young brothers in a hit-and-run in Coventry has been found dead in his jail cell.
Robert Brown was serving a 10-year sentence for causing the deaths of Corey and Casper Platt-May, aged six and two, by dangerous driving.
The career criminal, 53, was found dead in his cell at HMP Dovegate in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, on Christmas Day.
A spokesman for Serco, the private company which runs the Uttoxeterbased prison, said: “We can confirm an inmate has died at HMP Dovegate.
“There will be a coroner’s inquest in due course.”
Banned driver Brown was travelling at more than twice the speed limit and had taken a cocktail of drugs when he mowed down the brothers on February 22.
The youngsters were on their way to a park with their mother Louise Platt-May when they were struck by his Ford Focus as they crossed MacDonald Road, Coventry.
He fled the scene with his girlfriend but was later arrested and sentenced to nine years for two counts of causing death by dangerous driviing. That was later increased to 10 and a half years by the Court of Appeal.
Brown, of Attwood Crescent in Wyken, Warwickshire, had taken cocaine, diazepam and zopiclone in the hours before the tragedy.
He was driving at more than 60mph in a 30mph zone when he ploughed into the brothers.
Despite efforts to save them, the boys died in hospital a short while later.
Brown had never had a driving licence in his life and was banned from driving at the time of the crash.
He tried to leave the scene with his passenger girlfriend Gwendoline Harrison, but not before members of the public put him in a headlock, delaying him long enough for police to track the pair to a nearby back garden.
Brown had 30 previous convictions for driving offences and was only released from prison six days before the crash, after serving half of a sixmonth sentence for having an offensive weapon.
Harrison, 42, of Triumph Close, Wyken, was jailed for six months after admitting assault intending to resist arrest and attempting to flee the scene. Sadly, the heartbroken dad of the young brothers was found dead at a Greek hotel three months after losing his two boys.
The body of Reece Platt-May was discovered at a building in Corfu.
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.
Brave mum Louise, 28, has campaigned for longer sentence for killer drivers and spoke out after Brown’s sentence was increased. She said: “We are pleased that the driver has been given a longer prison sentence, as what our family has had to go through, and will continue experience for the rest of our lives, highlights the need for the toughest possible sentences to be handed out to drivers who ruin lives.
“We repeat our call for the Government to honour Corey and Casper’s legacy by ensuring proposals to introduce tougher sentences for drivers who kill are made law as soon as practically possible.”
She added: “The events of that day and having to witness your children die in front of you is something that our family will never get over.
“We will never forgive the driver for the way he ripped our family apart.
“Life without Corey and Casper is so difficult to put into words.
“Knowing we won’t see their cheeky smile or hear their infectious laugh again is heartbreaking.”