Baby death man jailed

Robin Harley was knocked over on Cotham Road

A man who admitting knocking over a pregnant woman and causing the death of her baby has been jailed for four years.

Karl Phillipson, 28, from Fishponds in Bristol, pleaded guilty to causing the death of newborn Eden Harley.

Eden was delivered by emergency caesarian section last January after his mother Robin was struck by Phillipson's car when she was seven months pregnant.

But he died two days later, less than three hours after his mother was able to hold him for the first time.

Treasured child

Sentencing Phillipson at Bristol Crown Court, Judge Michael Roach told him no sentence could put right the damage he had done.

"No-one in this court can feel anything but sympathy for a family who have lost a treasured child," he said.

The court heard Phillipson had been driving at speed along a residential road on a rainy day and overtook a van despite not being able to work his windscreen wipers or see what was ahead of him.

He hit Mrs Harley as she was crossing Cotham Road in Bristol.

She suffered a broken pelvis and Eden was born with brain damage as a result of the accident.

Prosecuting, Andrew Macfarlane said Mrs Harley, who attended the hearing in a wheelchair, had undergone surgery for her injuries and it was unclear whether she would be able to have more children.

Change in law

Phillipson was sentenced to a total of six years after also pleading guilty to unrelated charges of burglary, taking a vehicle without consent, driving while disqualified, theft and assault.

He had also asked for 58 other offences, mostly of burglary, to be taken into account.

Family support officer PC Alan Wale said the Harleys supported a change in the law so when a baby was stillborn as a result of an accident the driver could be prosecuted for causing death by dangerous driving.

"Had Eden not taken a breath we would not be here today because there would be no offence of causing death by dangerous driving," he added.