THE sentence handed out to Paul Brown yesterday for killing Joe Wilkins in a crash has done little to relieve the misery of his grieving family.

The cold logic of justice and the raw emotion of mourning relatives may often be best kept well apart.

But in this case, it seems that their call for a change in the law on penalties for people sentenced for causing death by careless driving merits inspection.

On face value, giving someone a sentence no more serious for killing someone than they would receive for driving home from the pub after one drink too many seems problematic.

Judges can only act within the guidelines they are given.

But sometimes cases are so striking that they call for a review of the law – and this is perhaps one such case.

Nicci Saunders, the partner of Mr Wilkins, says Brown should have been imprisoned and banned from driving for five years – rather than the mandatory one year ban he has been given.

Laws cannot be rehashed simply on a knee-jerk principle.

But the law is not perfect – and if it needs to be looked at again, it should be.