A speeding young driver with no car insurance who killed a three-year-old girl has been jailed for just 12 weeks.
Mohammed Aqueel Hussain ploughed into little Levi Bleasdale in Burnley in September 2005 whilst driving nearly 50pmh in a 30mph zone. He fled to a hotel, leaving the three-year-old dying in the road and her five-month-old sister seriously injured. When arrested by police, he claimed he had left the scene because he panicked.
26-year-old Hussain, who has never passed a driving test, pleaded guilty at Burnley Magistrates Court to careless driving, failing to stop after an accident and driving with no car insurance, and the bench chose to only jail him for twelve weeks as there was conflicting evidence over whether his driving had been erratic.
Slamming the sentence, Levi's disgusted grandfather, Michael Ryan, said, "We are all absolutely appalled. A few months ago someone who stole a teddy from a memorial site for Levi was sentenced to eight months in jail.
"Yet the person who killed her has only got three. It's a disgrace. You'd get more for shoplifting."
Mike Page, spokesman for Hoot Car Insurance Services, specialists in providing young driver car insurance at cheap prices, commented on the case, saying, "It does seem a fairly lenient sentence, but he'll have to live with what he's done for the rest of live.
"When he gets released, and if he ever decides to take a driving test, Hussain is going to find it something of a struggle to get a cheap car insurance deal with his record."