Driver who killed boyfriend near Brimham Rocks while filming on Snapchat has jail term increased
A driver who killed her boyfriend in a crash while filming him hanging out of the car window as they travelled towards Brimham Rocks has had her jail sentence increased by 18 months.
Mia Howarth, 21, was driving while on her phone filming Alfie Lovett, 17, who was sitting on the frame of the open window, the court heard.
She was jailed for three years but the Attorney General said the term was “unduly lenient” and referred the case to the Court of Appeal, where judges increased it to four-and-a-half-years on Friday.
Howarth, 18 at the time, was driving a Peugeot 107 on a rural, single carriage North Yorkshire road with three 17-year-old male passengers listening to “thumping music” on September 12, 2023.
She lost control of the vehicle while driving at 35mph and filming Mr Lovett on Snapchat, and veered into a grass verge, colliding with a dry-stone wall.
Mr Lovett, from York, was caught between the wall and the vehicle and died at the scene, despite passers-by attempting CPR, the court was told.
Howarth admitted causing death by dangerous driving at York Crown Court in March.
The Attorney General said the original sentence failed to adequately punish Howarth or act as a deterrent to further crime.
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.
The judge said: “We agree the judge fell into error in the way he applied a reduction for youth.”
He said there was also limited mitigation in the delay in charging Howarth.
During the hearing, Kelly Brocklehurst, representing the Attorney General, said: “We acknowledge there was a significant amount of mitigation but ultimately it was a sentence that had to punish the offender and deter further acts.”
Glenn Parsons, representing Howarth, said the case was a “profound tragedy” and Howarth’s grief was “overwhelming”.
He said she was “embedded” in the Lovett family and was a good influence on Alfie, who had become a father 12 weeks before his death.
He said the delay in charging Howarth was unacceptable as she had admitted killing Mr Lovett at the roadside.
She also told police she had told the boys they must wear seatbelts and it would be “her fault” if they took them off, the court heard.
The teenagers were on the way to Brimham Rocks, a National Trust site near Harrogate.
Howarth appeared in court via video link from HMP Low Newton near Durham and sobbed during the hearing.
Driver who killed boyfriend on way to Brimham Rocks has jail term increased