Death crash driver loses appeal

The sentence given to a driver who ran down a pedestrian before getting back behind the wheel was "entirely appropriate", judges have ruled.

Mr Justice Butterfield dismissed the challenge by Anil Farma of The Parkway, Leicester, to his six-year sentence.

He said Farma, uninsured and without a driving licence, had been driving at "excessive speed" and "aggressively" ahead of the collision in May 2004.

Farma, 24, had pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

Mobile call

BT engineer, Paul Lee, 36, suffered fatal head injuries when's Farma's car catapulted him into the air as he crossed Welford Road in Leicester.

He was originally sentenced at Leicester Crown Court and challenged this in the Court of Appeal, London, on Friday.

Farma had also received a consecutive one-year sentence for a separate offence of attempting to obtain property by deception - making a total of seven years in prison.

Mr Justice Butterfield, sitting with Lady Justice Smith and Mr Justice Grigson, said Farma momentarily remained on the scene before "getting back into the car, picking up his mobile telephone and making a call".

'Great distress'

The court heard he had continued to drive aggressively after the crash.

Mr Justice Butterfield said overall Farma had been guilty of "highly aggressive driving" and had failed to stop after killing a pedestrian.

He said Farma had caused a "tragic and highly avoidable death" which brought "great distress" to Mr Lee's family.

The six-year term for causing death by dangerous driving was "entirely appropriate", said the judge, saying the maximum term for such an offence is now 14 years.

Farma handed himself into police less than an hour after the crash.