THE Attorney General has asked the country’s top judges to increase the sentence given to a dangerous driver who killed an Ickenham woman.

Steven Palmer was jailed for five and a half years for a death crash on December 30 last year in Harvil Road in which barmaid Louise Clark, (pictured), died.

Palmer, 28, from the Hayes area, was serving his eighth disqualification and was speeding when he hit 38-year-old Ms Clark’s Audi TT after he lost control on a bend.

He then fled the scene leaving Ms Clark, who worked at The King’s Arms in Harefield, trapped in her car. She later died in hospital from her injuries.

Palmer had admitted to causing death by dangerous driving and causing death while disqualified and uninsured.

Now Attorney General Dominic Grieve MP, has asked the Court of Appeal to increase the sentence handed to Palmer, who admitted the offences at court, believing it to be ‘unduly lenient’.

Mr Grieve acted after the Crown Prosecution Service referred the case to his office.

After Palmer was jailed in March at Isleworth Crown Court, Ms Clark’s mother, Beryl, branded the sentence ‘laughable’.

“He shouldn’t have been on the road and he shouldn’t be allowed on the road when he comes out of prison,” she said. “But whatever happens, he’s going to do exactly the same because he’s been disqualified before and gone in and out of prison.

“He’s going to come out of prison and do exactly the same again.”

A date for the appeal has been fixed for Friday, July 19.

In a statement to the Gazette, Ms Clark’s family said: “We do not know the basis on which the case has been referred to the court by the Attorney General as we are not permitted to see the grounds until after the hearing.

“While no sentence can bring back our daughter, we would like to see a sentence which protects the public from the danger posed by Steven Palmer who would, we believe, be released on licence in two years’ time under his current sentence.”