'Lenient' Coventry crash sentence goes to appeal

Casper Platt-May and his brother Corey were on a family trip when they were hit by a car

The case of a driver who killed two boys after taking cocaine has been referred to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

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.

He admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving after the hit-and-run crash.

The boys' father, Reece Platt-May, was found dead in a Greek hotel on 17 May.

His body was discovered on the island of Corfu and his death was not being treated as suspicious.

Brown, of Attwood Crescent in Wyken, Warwickshire, was jailed last month.

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West Midlands Police Collision Investigation Unit has calculated he was driving at more than 60mph.

The road safety charity Brake has previously described the sentence as an "injustice" and said it felt it was "too lenient".

Robert Brown and Gwendoline Harrison showed no emotion as they were sentenced

Gwendoline Harrison, 42, of Triumph Close, Wyken, who was a passenger in the car, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

She had admitted a charge of assault intending to resist arrest and trying to leave the scene.

A spokesperson for the Solicitor General said: "After careful consideration, the Solicitor General referred the case of Robert Brown to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

"We await a date for the hearing."

The Attorney General's Office said it looked into the case of Harrison, but it did not fall within the scheme.

A fundraising page set up a week ago that hopes to raise £6,000 towards funeral costs has reached a total of more than £1,700.