A LEADING Bolton magistrate has thrown his weight behind our Drive for Justice campaign.

Andy Morgan, who is also a Conservative councillor on Bolton Council, says he and colleagues on the bench are often left frustrated by the restricting nature of the British justice system’s sentencing guidelines.

He said: “We often have cases come before us in which we feel that the defendant deserves a longer sentence but our hands are tied because of the sentencing guidelines.

“We need flexibility.

The guidelines allow you to come down but I think you should be allowed to go up to reflect the outcry, as in this case.”

The Bolton News launched its Drive for Justice after a motorist who seriously injured 14-year-old Devon Foster and two of her pals was sentenced to just 26 months in jail, prompting the presiding judge, Judge Steven Everett, to send transcripts of the case to Prime Minister David Cameron and the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to back his pleas for tougher sentences.

The maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving has been increased to 14 years, but the maximum sentence for dangerous driving, no matter how severe the victim’s injuries, is still just two years.

Mr Morgan, who chairs Bolton Council’s health scrutiny committee, has also vowed to take our campaign to the very top — starting at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham next week.

He said: “It is a very worthwhile campaign and I will be taking petitions down to Birmingham and trying to get it in front of as many ministers as I can.”

Drink-driver Christopher Marr, aged 23, was jailed in September for 26 months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, driving without a licence or insurance, failing to provide a specimen and making off without payment.

Devon suffered horrific injuries and almost died after the car Marr was driving went out of control, mounted the pavement in Darwen Road, Bromley Cross, and hit a group of friends walking home from a party in the early hours of August 22.

The judge told Marr that had his dangerous driving resulted in the death of any of the teenagers who were hit he would have been jailed for eight years.

Hundreds of people, including Bolton MPs David Crausby, Julie Hilling and Yasmin Qureshi have already signed our petition and we want even more to back the campaign.