A death crash driver, who killed a father-of-two while driving on the wrong side of a darkened road, has been freed by top judges - because he is French.

The Court of Appeal ruled that Alexis Sebastien Fleury, 25, from Orleans, had “lower culpability” for causing the death of 61-year-old David Crane, than a British driver would have done.

Mr Crane, of High Street, Rolvenden, was on his way home from work at 11.30pm on August 3 last year, when his Skoda Fabia was hit head-on by Fleury’s grey Renault Laguna on the A28 near Tenterden.

The dad-of-two a charity fund-raiser - described as “a very good man” who cared for his disabled wife - suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Fleury, 25, was acquitted by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court of causing death by dangerous driving but was convicted of causing death by careless driving in July and jailed for 18 months.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones, Mr Justice Irwin and Mr Justice Green, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, halved that sentence to nine months - meaning Fleury will walk free next week.

The court heard the Frenchman was on his way to visit his English girlfriend, Emily Crick, in East Sussex, having travelled from France through the Eurotunnel, when the fatal crash occurred.

He had performed a U-turn and was driving down the wrong side of the road, when he crashed head on into Mr Crane’s car, Mr Justice Irwin said.

He had been awake for 16 hours and had been driving for six and a half hours at the time.

His lawyers argued that there was no evidence that he had been tired, as he had napped on the shuttle through the tunnel.

Speaking just after his death, Mr Crane's widow, Philonema, said, he was not supposed to be working on the night he died.

“It was such a shock and was so sudden," she said.

“He had been helping out a friend by doing deliveries for a take-away Chinese restaurant and was on his way home.

“He helped a friend sometimes with deliveries at the Happy Valley Chinese restaurant in St Michaels and agreed to go in on Friday because someone was on holiday."

He was born and brought up in Rolvenden and lived in the village all his life. After leaving Homewood school, he worked as a roadie for Status Quo, giving up when his twins were born.

Mr Justice Irwin expressed his sympathy for Mr Crane’s family, saying: “He was a very good and loving father to two daughters and a husband who looked after his disabled partner.

“They are all terribly distraught about their loss. It is clear that he was a good man and his death has caused great loss and pain.”

But in halving the original sentence he said Fleury was less blameworthy for his fatal “mistake” because he is a Frenchman.

“This young man made a mistake at the end of his journey. As a Frenchman, used to driving on the right hand side of the road, he remained on the right hand side of the road after his U-turn,” the judge said.

“He did a U-turn in the dark in England and, for moments or minutes, forgot that he was not driving in France.

“The culpability of a British driver in the same circumstances would have been very high indeed. For somebody from France, the culpability must be reduced."

In allowing the appeal and reducing the sentence to nine months Fleury will be freed next week.