Killer driver will serve six months

A dangerous driver who killed a four-year-old Birmingham boy will serve six months behind bars.

Diabetic Trevor Clarke, aged 53, of Larch Walk, Yardley, was in the throes of a hypoglycaemic attack when he hit Cory Chesielsky after mounting the kerb as he turned into Cartland Road, Stirchley, on April 13, 2006.

Clarke had been spotted veering across the road, sitting at green traffic lights and using his windscreen wipers in dry weather by various witnesses on the day of the accident.

He drove for a total of two and a half miles before he hit Cory, who was walking to a park with his 14-year-old step-brother Daniel.

Clarke said he had been out making charity collections, but claimed he could remember nothing about the accident because of the hypoglycaemic attack.

An expert who testified at his trial said he was "100 per cent certain" that Clarke was aware that he was suffering from hypoglycaemia and that he could have prevented the accident by stopping and eating or taking glucose tablets.

Clarke was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and was handed a three-year jail term in December last year at Birmingham Crown Court.

The judge told him that, although he knew his diabetes "significantly impaired his driving skill", he had taken a risk which led to the accident.

Despite this, last month Appeal Court judges ruled that Clarke's sentence would be slashed by two-thirds.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones, sitting with Mr Justice Hooper and Judge Jeremy Roberts QC, said there were "highly exceptional" reasons why Clarke merited only a 12-month jail term, from which he will be entitled to automatic release after serving half.

The judge told Cory Chesielsky's parents they had behaved "with complete dignity" and the sentence imposed, on Clarke was no reflection of the value he court put on their son's life. He said: "It may seem strange to them that this court should devoted so much attention to the medical condition of the man whose conduct led to their son's death.

"However, we are bound to do so in order to establish the degree of his culpability for what occurred and in order that we should be aware of the precise consequences for him of the sentence imposed.

"We certainly have not lost sight of the appalling tragedy suffered by Cory and by his family.

"However, the sentences imposed in cases such as this are not intended to reflect the value of the life lost, nor to make reparation in any way.

"No doubt Cory's parents would be the first to accept that no sentence, however severe, could ever do that."