Drink-drug killer driver's sentence insufficient, appeals court is told

The prison sentence given to a driver who killed a teenage girl while under the influence of alcohol and drugs is "insufficient", a court heard.

Keilan Roberts, 22, caused the death of Chloe Hayman, 17, who was his passenger when he crashed his car in July, 2022.

Roberts, from Rhymney, Caerphilly, had consumed alcohol, cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy.

In June, Roberts was jailed at Cardiff Crown Court for three years and nine months.

He was also banned from driving for 10 years.

At the Court of Appeal in London on Thursday, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) challenged the sentence as being "unduly lenient".

Philip McGhee, for the AGO, said sentencing judge David Wynn Morgan had made an "insufficient" increase in the jail term handed to Roberts to reflect the "gravity" of his offending.

At Cardiff Crown Court in June, judge Morgan had said that his sentencing of Roberts was within guidelines, but acknowledged it may seem "inadequate".

But in written arguments, the AGO said the judge's approach to sentencing "did not properly reflect the aggravating factors".

These included Roberts driving with "two dangerously defective rear tyres", drinking alcohol after the collision "in an attempt to frustrate the breathalyser process" and failing "to have any regard to the warnings or concerns expressed by others about his behaviour".

The AGO also said the judge had "insufficiently" adjusted the sentence to take account of the offender's levels of intoxication which "were substantially in excess of the specified limit in respect of each of the three controlled drugs".

The AGO document concluded that "the sentence was not just and proportionate to the overall seriousness of the offending".

Roberts, who joined Thursday's hearing via video-link from HMP Parc in Bridgend, was jailed after pleading guilty to four counts of causing death by careless driving while under the influence.

Jeffrey Jones, representing Roberts, said that the sentence passed was "proportionate", with the judge "significantly" increasing it "to reflect all the drugs".

Mr Jones added: "This offender will carry the memory of what he's done for a very long time and his remorse is genuine."

Lord Justice Popplewell, sitting with Mr Justice Lavender and Mr Justice Bryan, said they hoped to give their written decision "within the next few days".

He told members of Chloe's family and friends who were following the hearing in court and via video-link that "whatever the outcome" the judges were "very conscious no sentence can make up for the grievous loss of Chloe's life".

At his sentencing the court was told that Roberts, who had worked in plumbing and had a history of drug and alcohol misuse, had no previous convictions and had experienced a "fractured and sad childhood".

Roberts had not met Chloe before the evening of the crash and offered to take her to her home in Tonypandy, Rhondda Cynon Taf, following a night out in nearby Pontypridd.

The court heard he had argued with his girlfriend.

Roberts lost control of his Skoda Octavia in the village of Fochriw, Caerphilly, with the collision resulting in fatal chest injuries to Ms Hayman who died at the scene.

Her mother Danielle O'Halloran, who attended Thursday's hearing, previously said in a victim personal statement that her daughter's death had left her "utterly broken".

"I thought time was meant to heal but this isn't the case when you lose a child. If anything, it hurts more and more each day," she said.

Ms Hayman's stepmother Alix Hayman described her in a statement as a "fiercely loyal" teenager who "lived and loved life", telling Roberts that he had "torn this family apart".

She said the family's loss was "like living your worst nightmare daily".