Campaign to get killer drivers

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Date: 2003-04-30

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When British driver Gary Clarke killed three-year-old Isobel Appleton hours after snorting heroin, the case touched off a nationwide campaign to rid British roads of killer drivers. Clarke had 93 previous convictions - including 19 for driving while disqualified and nine for drink-driving - and had served several jail sentences of three and six months for driving while banned.

There's been massive support for the Evening Mail newspaper's "Justice for Isobel" campaign aimed at very tough sentences for hard-case drivers. One driver, Ian Carr, has been sentenced to nine-and-a-half years imprisonment after being convicted of killing six-year-old Rebecca Sawyer of Ashington and seriously injuring her sister, Kirsty, and father, Steven. Recently, Home Secretary David Blunkett raised the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving from ten to 14 years. But now, politicians, and the media, are campaigning for more. Transport Minister John Spellar spoke during a 90-minute April 30 Commons debate to discuss Home Office Minister Lord Falconer's pledge that killer drink or drug drivers will face indeterminate sentences. Clark had received just five years in jail and a ten-year driving ban for Isobel's death, despite admitting to a similar charge in the past. Read Birmingham.co.uk article

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