A DRINK driver involved in a fatal crash will remain behind bars for 18 months more after the country’s top legal officer stepped in.

Teaching assistant Jody Clulow, 23, died after Simon Snow’s Subaru Impreza crashed in Brielle Way, Sheerness, during the early hours of January 8 last year.

The Attorney General, the Government’s main legal advisor, referred the case to the Court of Appeal, which increased Snow’s sentence from 12 months to two-and-a-half years. His driving ban was upped by another year to three-and-a-half years.

Jody’s father says he hopes the tougher new sentence will now serve as a deterrent to other drink drivers.

Devastated Brian and Christine Clulow were upset at Snow’s initial sentence in October. Their only daughter Jody had accepted a lift with her friend Jade Birkin and Snow’s friend Sean Ross.

Snow, 29, a dock worker, of High Street, Eastchurch, admitted her death by careless driving when over the drink-drive limit. The maximum sentence could have been 14 years.

He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving while unfit through drink, which also carries a maximum 14-year sentence, but this was dropped when he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.

The Attorney General has the power to refer sentences which he considers too lenient to the Court of Appeal.

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK'S SHEERNESS TIMES GUARDIAN