O'Reilly had not passed his driving test

The relatives of the victims of a 19-year-old drink driver say they are "disgusted" over the decision of a judge to jail him for four-and-a-half years.

Aaron O'Reilly, of Grange Grove, Whitefield, Greater Manchester, admitted killing three people, including his step-brother, in a crash in March 2002.

He pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court to three counts of causing death by dangerous driving, excess alcohol and document offences.

But Michael Shaw, whose wife Stella was one of those killed, said Judge Lindsey Kushner QC had shown "more sympathy" to O'Reilly than to the victim's families.

He said: "I was told the maximum sentence was 10 years for each death.

"If he had got 10 years for the three, I would have held my hands up.

"But four-and-a-half years, I don't know how she arrived at that figure."

No licence

Mr Shaw, who was also injured in the crash, added: "She has shown more sympathy to him than she has to any of the families. I'm totally disgusted."

O'Reilly will spend his sentence in a young offenders' institution.

The car O'Reilly he was driving had hit a taxi head-on in Prestwich, killing his passenger, the 44-year-old taxi driver and a 53-year-old woman who was in the taxi.

O'Reilly's car hit the taxi head-on

The court heard how O'Reilly had drunk vodka and other spirits before getting into a car his father had bought for him when he passed his driving test.

Despite having never had any formal driving lessons O'Reilly climbed behind the wheel of the white Ford Sierra with his 15-year-old stepbrother as passenger.

He drove at speeds of up to 90mph, narrowly avoiding a crash before reaching Bury Old Road in Prestwich.

Died instantly

He was seen driving on the wrong side of the road before crashing into the taxi travelling in the other direction.

The cab driver, Khalid Ejaz,of Grange Avenue, Coppice in Oldham, and the Sierra passenger, Arron Croft, 15, of Windsor Avenue, Whitefield, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Stella Shaw, of Brookfields in Prestwich, died in hospital.

Tests later revealed O'Reilly probably had about two-and-a-half times the legal level of alcohol in his blood at the time of the crash.

Judge Lindsey Kushner QC told O'Reilly that because of his actions on that night three people who should have been alive now were not.