Sentence increased for rickshaw death crash driver

A drunk driver who killed a rickshaw passenger on her birthday night out had his sentence increased by Court of Appeal judges.

Luis Balcazar-Soto, 25, was twice the drink-drive limit and had no insurance when his silver Kia crashed into the pedicab Elephant and Castle, southeast London.

Passenger Sophie Strickland, 31, was pronounced dead at the scene while rickshaw driver Tanvir Ahmed suffered life-changing injuries.

Balcazar-Soto was jailed for nine years and nine months at Southwark Crown Court after he admitted causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving. He had also admitted breaching a restraining order and the terms of

But after the sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General, Michael Tomlinson KC, judges ruled it had been unduly lenient and increased the jail term imposed on Balcazar-Soto to 12 years and nine months.

Lord Justice William Davis, who heard the case with Mr Justice Sweeting and Judge Heather Norton, said Balcazar-Soto would "serve a prison term which is a more appropriate reflection of the dreadful harm that he has caused".

But at the same hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, judges refused a bid by Mr Tomlinson to win a stiffer sentence for a second driver who also caused a fatal crash.

Malcolm Waite, 68, was five times the drink-drive limit when he knocked down and killed 20-year-old Fenella Hawes and injured a 16-year-old in Stalham, Norfolk.

He admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for eight years at Norwich Crown Court.

Appeal judges said there was "nothing plainly wrong" with the jail term imposed.

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