M4 crash: Drink-drive killer's sentence deemed not unduly lenient

A man who killed two young children while drink and drug driving will not have his sentence reviewed by the court of appeal.

Martin Newman was jailed for nine years for causing the deaths of Gracie Ann and Jayden Lee Lucas on M4 at Newport.

A request to review his prison term under the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme has been refused.

"I'd like to see the man who said it's fair to come and say it to my face," said grandfather Jason Lucas.

"He took two kids away from us. What we've had to go through, it's terrible.

"I wouldn't want that for anybody. It just ripped us apart."

Jayden Lee, aged three, and sister Gracie Ann, aged four, from Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent, were travelling from a birthday party when the family's car was hit by Newman's van on 5 February.

Newman, 41, from Croeserw, Neath Port Talbot, had been drinking red wine at the wheel of his Ford Transit and had cocaine in his system.

The Attorney General's Office said the solicitor general was "shocked and deeply saddened" by the case.

"After careful consideration the solicitor general has concluded that this case cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal," it said.

"A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence.

"The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case."

The children's mother, Rhiannon Lucas, was also left with serious injuries.

Following his sentencing in April, the children's family expressed anger and said they would appeal for harsher punishment that reflected the loss of two young children.

The Ministry of Justice said it was introducing new laws which would increase the maximum sentence to life in prison for those who kill while driving dangerously.

Mr Lucas said, while there would still be "heartache" for families, it would mean they would not have to seek a sentence review, especially while still grieving.

"They won't have to fight for it like we've had to," he said.

Newman had pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, seriously injuring Ms Lucas, and drink and drug driving.