Driver who killed girl is jailed

A banned driver with an "appaling" record of offences was yesterday jailed for five years for knocking down and killing a six-year-old girl as she tried to cross the road in front of his stolen van.

Gary Howarth, 31, was found guilty at Preston Crown Court of causing Tracy Kennedy's death by dangerous driving.

The court heard that Tracy was flung or carried more than 70 feet along the road outside her home in Farnworth, Bolton, last May. She was hit by a Ford Fiesta driven by Howarth as she stepped into the road holding the hand of her four-year-old sister Sonia, who suffered a broken leg.

Howarth, from Farnworth, had a record of driving while disqualified and taking motor vehicles stretching back 10 years and was on probation at the time of Tracy's death, the court was told.

Judge Brian Duckworth told Howarth: "You have an appaling record. You are a man who has over the years deliberately cocked a snook at the law and taken no notice of the road traffic regulations."