Killer taxi driver has sentence increased
A TAXI driver who dragged a teenager a mile to his death under the wheels of his cab today had his manslaughter sentence increased by two years.
oGhulam Hussain, 44, of Grange Road, West Bromwich, was sentenced to three years jail on September 18 for killing 17-year-old Scott Poll.
The Crown Prosecution Service and West Bromwich police today went to the Court of Appeal in London to try to get the "lenient" sentence lengthened.
And after a hearing lasting less than an hour, Appeal Court judges Lord Justice Keene, Mr Justice Bean and Sir Richard Curtis upheld the appeal and decided to add another two years to Hussain's sentence.
They said that the original sentence should have been six years but they had to give Hussain credit for his eventual guilty plea to manslaughter and the fact he had initially gone on trial for murder.
Scott, of Lincoln Road, Wednesbury, was killed early on February 26 as he made his way home from a night out.
He was struck by Hussain's taxi in Hollyhedge Road, Stone Cross, West Bromwich, and dragged under the wheels for more than a mile through seven streets before his battered body was thrown clear in Hall Green Road.
Scott's father Arthur, speaking after the hearing, said he felt justice had finally been done.
"No matter what Hussain received, nothing was ever going to bring Scott back and we felt he should have got life for what he did," he said.
"But we see today's decision as a victory. The judges said the initial sentence was unduly lenient and upheld the appeal.
"We are very pleased but we shall continue to campaign for a change in the law so that drivers who use their vehicles as weapons, like Hussain did, will get automatic longer sentences."
Hussain went on trial for murder at Wolverhampton Crown Court but admitted manslaughter three days into the trial.
Det Sgt Graham Sanders, of West Bromwich CID, said he hoped today's Court of Appeal decision would hopefully allow the Poll family closure.
