Why did he get only 2 and a half years in prison.....

[VHG]

...and why is he out just over a year later.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7 705523.stm

He was driving like an idiot, high on drugs AND killed 2 of his friends.

He injured 2 others in the car, and could have killed innocent pedestrians and other drivers.

If ever a crime deserved 10 years or more this was it.

His famly had the nerve to say "He had just started to live his new life with his love Emily and their son Richard"

Pity the people he killed have not got the chance to live a new life.

If he had got the sentence he deserved he would be alive today.

[VHG]

And because this is an ongoing criminal case I have made no comment on who may have stabbed him.

It would be wrong to make any suggestion that the family or friends of one of the people he killed wanted revenge.

Any appends that suggest that is what happened will probably be removed.

[jno]

people who kill with cars generally get lower sentences than those who kill with knives or guns. This seems to represent public opinion. There are plenty of ABers who will tell you speeding isn't really a crime and they do it all the time. I may be wrong but I think killer drivers used to be charged with manslaughter but juries kept letting them off, so they changed the law.

Anyway, he did the crime and he did the time, so his slate was clean. I find it hard to summon up a whole lot of sympathy for him, though.

[jno]

Incidentally, if it was a revenge killing, I hope the killers get a longer sentence than he did. Death by accident and deliberate murder really are two different crimes.

[jake-the-peg]

There is a good reason why people who kill with cars get shorter sentences. It is because no specific malice is involved only recklessness. The maximum sentence has been recently increased from 10 to 14 years.

In this particular case from the looks of it he may have been under 18 at the time and the law is more lenient with jeuvenile offenders

Manslaughter has a life maximum,
It seems that the driver must be "grossly negligent" to be charged with this. However drivers almost never seem to be charged with

The sentencing guidelines investigation http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/d eath-by-driving-advice.pdf are quite interesting, they point out this although they have no influence over charging decisions.

I don't think there's any need for tougher sentences for either of these crimes, what seems needed rather is for a review of charging policy - so that appropriate cases are prosecuted for manslaughter and not the lesser offence.

[keyplus90]

That�s the government�s way of controlling our growing population. I am sure the one who overtook me yesterday in a busy local residential street would be next one to kill himself, someone in another car, pedestrian or even the girl who was sitting in his car whom he was trying to impress.

If I have to make a choice then I would rather go for him.

[brionon]

Moral -If you want to kill someone -use a car. All the Clarkson clones will support you.

[daffy654]

Brionon,I like Top Gear and find Jeremy Clarkson very funny.That doesn't mean I would support anyone who broke any road laws or caused the death of someone with a car accident(however it was caused).

[reffgt]

I have now come to the conclusion that Judges who keep bleating about their hands are tied about sentencing and let the scum of this earth get away with so much they can expext retaliation in one kind or another. Get some prisons built instead of houses and keep murderers locked away however they do it. I am sick of reading do goody lawyers ,windbags who don't get any family butchered by thugs who don't care about their victims in the first place. If I don't pay my rates I can expext a very very long sentence indeed.

[brionon]

daffy654
OK But do you say ''Speed doesn't kill'' or ''Looking at the Speedometer is Dangerous'' or any of the other despicable things that Some Motorists say ?