Killer drivers to face life imprisonment
Dangerous drivers who kill on the roads are to face life imprisonment. Under plans for longer sentences the maximum sentence for causing death by speeding, racing or using a mobile phone will rise from 14 years to life. Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary, has promised to unveil the proposals “as soon as possible” and is expected to include them alongside laws imposing automatic life sentences on child killers and longer prison terms for serious offenders.
DANGEROUS drivers who cause deaths face life imprisonment under Boris Johnson’s plans for longer sentences.
The maximum sentence for causing death by speeding, racing or using a mobile phone will rise from 14 years to life, equivalent to manslaughter.
A separate offence, causing death by driving under the influence of drink or drugs, will also see its maximum term rise from 14 years to life.
The crackdown on killer drivers has been dubbed Violet-grace’s Law by campaigners in memory of a four-yearold killed by a speeding stolen car being driven at 83mph in a 30mph zone.
The proposals were shelved in the last parliament despite overwhelming public backing, including a 167,000strong petition.
However, Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary, has promised to unveil the proposals “as soon as possible” and is expected to include them alongside new laws imposing automatic life sentences on child killers and longer prison terms for serious violent and sex offenders.
“I am going to be doing a sentencing Bill this year; that could be one vehicle,” he said. “I want to get on with this as soon as possible. We will have the time and support of the Government to change the law.”
The Government is also expected to introduce a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving, punishable by imprisonment, to plug a gap that allows drivers to avoid jail.
Violet-grace Youens died, and her grandmother, Angela French, was seriously injured in 2017 when Aidan Mcateer, then 23, mounted the pavement in St Helens in a stolen Ford Fiesta.
It had gone through two red lights before Mcateer, who did not have a driving licence, lost control, and crashed into Mrs French who had Violet-grace in her arms.
Mcateer jumped out with his passenger, Dean Brennan, then 27, ran past Violet-grace as she lay dying on the ground, and fled to Amsterdam three hours later.
At his trial for dangerous driving, Mcateer was jailed for nine years and four months, which campaigners say will mean through automatic early release he will serve less time in prison than Violet’s short life.
Helen Jones, the former MP who led a debate on the petition for the life sentences, said: “We’re not talking about a moment’s inattention that has disastrous consequences.
“We’re talking about deliberate recklessness without any thought for anyone else’s life. It would act as a major deterrent if a life sentence was available for that type of driving.”
In 2016, 157 people were sentenced for causing death by dangerous driving, with 32 more convicted of causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence.