Family angry at driver's sentence

The driver left the scene of the crash on Madam's Bank Road in Londonderry

The parents of a Londonderry teenager killed by a drunk hit-and-run driver have said car criminals must serve longer jail sentences.

David Leo Brennan died in April after he was knocked down on Madam's Bank Road by a 21-year-old man who later set fire to his car and took a taxi home.

Andrew McGlinchey will serve half of a four year sentence for causing the teenager's death by careless driving.

Mr Brennan's father described the sentence as an "absolute disgrace".

He said McGlinchey "had a choice to stop and let David live".

"If he had the sense to go and phone a taxi after he burned the evidence, he had the sense to stop and let David have a chance," he said.

'Total insult'

The family described how they got a phone call during the early hours of 3 April telling them David had been involved in a car accident.

They hurried to the scene and found the injured teenager covered in blood on the roadside.

David's mother Denise Brennan said the sentence was a "total insult".

She claimed her badly injured son would have survived if the driver had called for help.

"He knew what he was doing and he could have stopped because David's coroner's report said if McGlinchey had stopped David would be here today," she said.

McGlinchey, of Cornshell Fields in the city, admitted causing death by careless driving with excess alcohol in his system.

He also admitted failing to stop, remain or report the accident.

At Londonderry Magistrates Court on Thursday, he was told he would serve two years in jail before being released on licence for another two years.

He was also banned from driving for seven years.