Driver who killed pregnant Hollyoaks actress in horror crash has his sentence increased
Topics: News, UK News, Celebrity, Crime, True Crime
Jess Hardiman
Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: News, UK News, Celebrity, Crime, True Crime
The driver who killed pregnant Hollyoaks star Frankie Jules-Hough in a horror car crash has had his sentenced increased.
Jules-Hough, 38, from Chadderton in Oldham, suffered fatal injuries in the crash earlier this year, which happened when she pulled over on the M66 southbound due to a flat tyre.
Adil Iqbal, 22, smashed into the mum-of-two's car – which also had her two sons and another four-year-old boy sitting inside - having been filming himself driving his dad’s BMW 140i as he raced along the motorway at 123mph.
Jules-Hough - who starred as Jess Holt in Hollyoaks in the 2000s - died in hospital two days later, along with her unborn baby girl, while the three children were also injured in the incident.
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Iqbal was initially handed a 12-year jail term, but has now had a further three years added to his sentence.
Three appeal judges in London decided today (13 October) that the original term was too lenient, extending the sentence to 15 years behind bars.
Jules-Hough's partner Calvin Buckley, 40, said today's appeal hearing was held on the same day that would have been the day their daughter – who they planned to call Neeve – was due to be born.
“Today should have been the proudest and happiest day of my life,” he said.
“Today I should be celebrating becoming a father for the first time with my partner Frankie Julia Hough to our daughter Neeve. Today is the day Neeve was due to be born and [sic] making her entrance into the world.
“Instead I am in court fighting for their justice.”
“Neeve’s death isn’t recognised in the eyes of the law. Frankie’s family and I was shocked and saddened by this decision.
“It was an insult to Frankie and Neeve’s memory and clearly didn’t reflect the devastation and loss caused.”
Buckley added: "My life, like so many others, was turned upside down because somebody wanted to show off, brag, boast and feed their own ego.
“The fact that (Frankie and Neeve) lost their lives in this way has made the tragedy more devastating.
“The way he drove that day was described as ‘an accident waiting to happen’. It was no accident, it was crime. A crime that could have been prevented and that needs a strong deterrent so that it doesn’t happen again.
“Our roads are being used daily as race tracks – endangering children and families’ lives for their own amusement.
“I ask the question, what more does somebody have to do get a life sentence for causing death by dangerous driving?
“I am disappointed that another opportunity has been missed to try and clamp down on the growing issues of dangerous drivers and lawlessness on Britain’s roads.”