Storm over death driver

by DAVID WILKES, Daily Mail

Outrage last night greeted the "soft" sentence given to a heroin-fuelled driver with 93 previous convictions who mowed down a three-year-old girl on a pelican crossing.

Eyewitnesses watched in horror as Isobel Appleton was tossed 40ft in the air "like a rag doll" and then struck a second time by Gary Clarke's car before he sped away.

Clarke, 40, whose criminal career began when he was 13, later shaved off his beard and threw away his clothes in an attempt to avoid detection.

Yesterday he was jailed for five years and banned from driving for ten after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. The maximum prison sentence is ten years.

Road safety campaigners condemned the sentence, saying Clarke should have been charged with manslaughter. He had been banned from driving for a total of 26 years in the past.

Isobel died from multiple injuries in Birmingham Children's Hospital after the accident on January 16 as she crossed a busy road in Oldbury, West Midlands, with her mother.

Clarke was driving at 45mph in a 40mph area and the crossing lights were on amber as he approached. Michael Challinor, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Clarke admitted accelerating through the lights.

Although he sped off and tried to escape detection, his Vauxhall Astra was traced and he was arrested later that day.

Tests showed he had taken two lines of heroin.

He also admitted driving without insurance and failing to stop.

Judge Christopher Hodson told Clarke: "This was a dreadful crime. At the time you were heavily under the influence of heroin.

"Nothing I can say or what the court does by way of penalty will bring this young girl back to life."

At an earlier hearing it was revealed that Clarke, of Quinton, Birmingham, had 93 previous convictions, including 19 for driving while disqualified and nine for drink-driving. His latest road ban was lifted last August.

Isobel's parents, Suzanne and Paul, live in Fermington, Devon. They had been visiting Isobel's grandparents in Oldbury at the time of the tragedy.

Last night they issued a statement saying: "She was an angelic, innocent victim. No sentence could bring her back." A spokesman for safety campaigners RoadPeace said: "This is a shocking case and we would have liked to see this man charged with manslaughter.

"Given his actions we feel he should at least have been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

"We would like to see a charge for road deaths which makes the death a central issue, rather than the standard of driving.

"This man is a danger to the public but will serve three years at the most. We do not think such a horrific death should be treated in such a casual, lenient way.

"The Government intends to send out a strong message by increasing the maximum sentence for death by dangerous driving and we hope that will help prevent this sort of thing in the future."

Isobel's grandmother Eileen Morris said at the time of the tragedy: "We've had three wonderful years with Isobel and we are heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken that she is gone.

"She always had a smile on her face and was a wonderful little girl.

"She will be so dearly missed."

Local residents have since launched a campaign to crack down on speeding motorists.

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