By Keith Hunt

A driver who fell asleep at the wheel and killed a teenage boy was today jailed for three-and-a-half years.

The father of 16-year-old Josh Callaghan said afterwards he was "devastated" about the sentence imposed on Koaldeep Singh Lit.

"It doesn't seem much for a life," said electrician Tim Callaghan. "I hoped he would get much longer than that, especially when he could be out in about 15 months."

Lit, of Cliffe Road, Strood, denied causing death by dangerous driving but was convicted by a jury. He was banned from driving for five years.

A judge said the 35-year-old father had lied about swerving to avoid a dog and making stops on his way home from Bath in Somerset.

"In my view, you immediately woke up to what you had done and then embarked on a course of deliberate lies to try to avoid liability," said Judge Jeremy Gold QC.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Josh and his father were walking on the pavement, on their way to play pool, when the tragedy happened in Northfleet on January 24 last year.

Lit had that morning been working in Bath and dozed off at the wheel of his Vauxhall Vectra as he reached London Road, The Overcliffe.

Judge Gold said the car hit Josh and, no doubt, missed his father by inches. It then crashed into railings before colliding with a car coming in the opposite direction.

The teenager was taken to hospital but died the next day.