A MOTHER has pledged to continue her fight for a change in the law – three years to the day since her son was killed by a teenage tearaway.
Clare Conroy marked the third anniversary of the death of eight-year-old son, Daniel Conroy Curtin, by re-issuing her call for stiffer sentences.
Her son was hit by a Rover Metro driven by Ashley Lindo on May 16 and died nine days later in The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.
“It has been a very difficult day,” she said yesterday. “I’m just trying to keep myself busy and there is no better way to do that than to continue the fight for justice for Daniel.
“The sentence Lindo received was pitiful and that is something I will never forget.”
Last month, the 34-year-old wrote to all the MPs on Teesside asking for their support to change sentencing laws for killer drivers.
So far, several MPs and Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon have responded to her impassioned plea, but the Middlesbrough mother feels let down by her home-town MP Sir Stuart Bell.
Miss Conroy, of Ayresome Street, in the town, said: “Most of the MPs wrote back to me saying they sympathised with my situation, but they said the best person to help is Middlesbrough MP Stuart Bell.
“However, five weeks after I sent the letters, he is the only MP who has failed to reply to my plea for help.
“The town’s mayor, Ray Mallon, has promised to help me as much as he can, but I feel let down by my own MP.”
When Lindo was locked up for three years for killing Daniel in May 2006, there was widespread outrage that the crime had resulted in such a short sentence.
When he was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court, Judge Christopher Prince told the 18-year-old he was a risk to the public, and criticised a legal system that meant 23 months was the maximum sentence available, despite Lindo’s long list of previous convictions.
The teenager, of Orwell Street, Middlesbrough, already had a shameful criminal record when he drove a stolen car into eight-year-old Daniel as the youngster played in a Middlesbrough park.
Sir Stuart was unavailable for comment last night.
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