Half way mark reached as 50,000 sign e-petition for Violet's Law calling for tougher sentences for drivers that kill

This comes less than a week since the parents of four-year-old hit-and-run Violet Grace Youens, launched the online petition and marks the half way point to the 100,000 signatures needed for the proposal to be discussed in Parliament.

Violet-Grace Youens, from Eccleston, was struck by a speeding car on Friday, March 24 2017 on Prescot Road while walking home from nursery with her grandmother Angela French, 57.

She died the next day in her parents’ arms.

The man driving the car, Aidan McAteer, 25, was given a jail term of more than nine years for causing death by dangerous driving but will serve only half of that time behind bars before being eligible for parole.

Violet’s parents Becky and Glenn Youens, from Eccleston, say the sentences were not long enough and on Friday, February 15, launched an e-petition calling for parliament to consider the creation of Violet-Grace’s Law.

If passed, the law would give the courts the power to jail people convicted of causing death by dangerous driving for life in the most severe cases.

Violet's mum Becky Youens, 31, said: “Aidan McAteer will serve less time in prison than Violet was on this earth; how is that fair or right?

“He will be out before he is 30. Violet never got the chance to be 30, she didn’t have the chance to turn five.

"Violet has been let down, not by the police or the judge, but by the law.

“It was not an accident, it was not a one off, they had been driving recklessly and that day killed my daughter. The punishment does not fit the crime.

“We want Violet-Grace’s Law to be the difference in someone else getting the justice we didn’t get."

To sign the petition go to bit.ly/VioletGracesLaw