3:27pm Friday 25th January 2008
A drink driver who caused the death of his fiancee's father when he lost control of a car and collided with a roadside tree has had his jail term cut by top judges, on appeal.
Michael John Legg, 28, of Wessex Close, Chippenham, was jailed for three years and four months at Southampton Crown Court in October last year after admitting causing Alan Haywood's death by careless driving while over the legal alcohol limit.
He was also banned from the road for four years.
Legg, who also admitted driving without valid insurance, was one and a half times over the limit when he lost control while driving 48-year-old Mr Haywood back to his home in Waverley Road, Fordingbridge, following a visit to Southampton in January last year.
Legg and Mr. Haywood - his prospective father-in-law - had visited a pub before Legg got back into the driving seat, having also bought cider from a corner shop.
The accident occurred as the car - owned by Legg's fiancee - was travelling through the New Forest between Brook and Fordingbridge around midnight on January 6 last year.
Although there were not witnesses to the collision, London's Criminal Appeal Court heard accident investigators judged that the car left the road after Legg lost control of the vehicle, colliding with a roadside tree.
Neither occupant was wearing a seatbelt at the time and Legg was believed to have been travelling well over the speed limit. Mr Haywood was catapulted from the car by the impact of the collision, dying at the scene.
Judge Peter Beaumont QC - sitting at the Appeal Court with Lord Justice Richards and Mr Justice Burton - said Legg also sustained devastating injuries in the crash, including a fractured spine and ribs, and damage to his head and liver.
Legg, who was then living with Mr. Haywood and his wife Pauline, at their Fordingbridge home, has since expressed profound remorse for his actions.
Judge Beaumont added that Legg's fiancee, who has now given birth to their child, had written to the court urging the appeal judges to show clemency in his case.
He concluded that the trial judge had adopted "too high a starting- point" when sentencing Legg - and slashed his sentence to two years and eight months.
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