A banned driver who drove a stolen car through red lights killing a six-year-old girl has been jailed for nine-and-a-half years.

Rebecca Sawyer was killed and her baby sister injured when their father's car was shunted into a shop on New Year's Eve.

Ian Carr, 27, from Ashington, Northumberland, had admitted causing death by dangerous driving and running away after the accident.

Passing sentence, Judge David Hodson said: "Nothing I can say can adequately describe the revulsion that the community feels at what you have done."

Carr has 89 previous convictions

Carr had 89 previous motoring convictions - it is the second time he has been jailed for causing death by dangerous driving.

In 1991 he was given a year's youth custody for causing the death of his 16-year-old passenger.

After the case Rebecca's father, Steven Sawyer, 33, said: "Me, Sharon and all our family are now just pleased this is all over and we can try, as hard as it is without Rebecca, to rebuild our lives for Kirsty's sake.

When asked outside Newcastle Crown Court what sentence he would have liked to have seen Carr get, Mr Sawyer said: "He needs a life sentence, nothing but a life sentence will stop him from getting behind the wheel again.

'Life for life'

"It is too late for my daughter now but he will do this again unless he is somehow stopped.

"Personally I would cut the legs off such people to be honest but he should have got a life sentence if it had been possible, it should be a life for a life."

Northumbria Police has said it is advising a North MP who is seeking to lobby for changes in the law for motoring offences.

Chief Superintendent Bob Pattison said: "Denis Murphy, MP for Wansbeck, was so concerned about the circumstances of this incident he contacted the Home Secretary to discuss tightening up the laws on repeat offenders, and whether the type of charges that can be levied for motoring offences when death is involved should be reviewed.

"Mr Murphy wants to work with Northumbria Police to examine similar cases before making recommendations to the Home Secretary."

Carr was also ordered by Judge Hodson to complete the remaining two years of a previous sentence.