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14
Sept
Driver in fatal Brimham Rocks Road crash has jail term increased
A woman who killed her boyfriend after crashing her car into a ditch near Brimham Rocks has had her prison sentence lengthened.
Mia Howarth, 21, of Cooperative Street, Horbury, filmed her boyfriend Alfie Lovett, 17, and another boy hanging out of her car window on Brimham Rocks Road on September 12, 2023.
At a sentence hearing in March, York Crown Court was told there was “shouting and loud music” inside the Peugeot 107 in the moments before the accident which resulted in the death of Alfie who had become a father just 12 weeks before the accident.
Due to the crash Alfie suffered fatal chest injuries.
Alfie Lovett died in a collision on Brimham Rocks Road.
The court was also told that the defendant had been driving in socks and her mobile had been “locked and unlocked multiple times and several apps were used” including Google Maps, Spotify and Camera.
Howarth, who was 18-years-old at the time of the offence, was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
However, the Attorney General referred the matter to the Court of Appeal amid concern the original sentence had failed to adequately punish her.
At the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Popplewell, sitting with Mr Justice Linden and Mrs Justice Hill, said the sentencing judge was wrong to reduce the sentence because of poor conditions in UK prisons, and had reduced the sentence too much to reflect Howarth's age.
In a judgement handed down on Friday (September 11), Howarth’s sentence was increased by a year and a half.
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