Coventry driver who killed brothers has sentence increased Published duration 26 July 2018

image copyright Family handout image caption Casper Platt-May and his brother Corey were on a family trip when they were killed

A speeding driver who killed two young brothers in a hit-and-run while high on drugs has had his sentence increased.

Robert Brown, 53, was jailed for nine years after Casper Platt-May, two, and his brother Corey, six, died as they crossed a road in Coventry in February.

Brown had previously been jailed for possessing a machete and was let out on licence six days before the crash.

Under the unduly lenient sentence scheme, the Court of Appeal increased the sentence to 10 and a half years.

He had taken cocaine, diazepam and zopiclone and was driving at more than 60mph in a 30mph zone when he hit the brothers in MacDonald Road.

Brown, from Wyken in Coventry, admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

The boys' mother Louise Platt-May, 28, said after the sentence was increased her family had been "ripped apart".

"The events of that day and having to witness your children die in front of you is something that our family will never get over."

image copyright West Midlands Police image caption Robert Brown and Gwendoline Harrison were both jailed

She added: "Life without Corey and Casper is so difficult to put into words.

"Knowing we won't see their cheeky smile or hear their infectious laugh again is heartbreaking."

Sir Brian Leveson, sitting with two other judges, said the case justified a sentence "at the very top of the sentencing range".

He added: "It does not need this court to underline that the impact of these offences has been truly catastrophic on the family of these two boys.

"We have read the victim personal statements provided by their mother and eight-year-old brother, and recognise that no sentence which the court can impose will ever make up for the loss that they have suffered."

Gwendoline Harrison, 42, from Wyken, who was a passenger in the car, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment after admitting a charge of assault intending to resist arrest and trying to leave the scene.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland described it as a "tragic case".

"This was an atrocious offence, which Corey and Casper's family will likely never recover from," he said.

"Brown had an overwhelming history of similar offences, and he deserved to be jailed for longer."