A JUDGE yesterday told the grieving family of a two-year-old boy killed in a road accident that he could not punish the guilty driver the way they would want.

Judge John Walford said that the law did not allow him to pass the sort of sentence which no doubt they would like to see for the death of Dylan Taylor.

Van driver Stephen Robinson, who made a dangerous overtaking move which left the youngster dead, was jailed for two-and-a-half years yesterday and disqualified for five years.

Dylan was strapped into a child's seat in the back of a Peugeot 106 when Robinson's Ford Transit ploughed head-on into the car as he overtook a vehicle on the blind crest of a hill.

Robinson, 45, a self-employed plumber and also the father of a boy, was found guilty at Teesside Crown Court after a four-day trial of causing death by dangerous driving in November last year.

Dylan, of Beaconsfield Street, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, died six days later from his injuries.

Robinson, of Dene Grove, Darlington, who had been working on a Saturday morning at the coroner's office in Thirsk, was driving his ten-year-old van on the A168 Thirsk to Northallerton Road, near Thornton le Beans exit, when the crash occurred.

He claimed he was overtaking safely, but that other motorists closed the gap, blocking his return into a line of traffic.

But the occupants of two other cars that he overtook earlier told police that they had commented: "He is an accident waiting to happen."

He told police at the scene, although shocked: "It was my fault. I was overtaking."

The jury reached their guilty verdict after they asked to see again a police video of his route filmed from a Mercedes Sprinter, which is two inches higher than a Transit. They retired again and returned in minutes to convict him.

Jamie Hill, defending, said he had closed down his business in expectation of going to jail.

He said that Robinson's wife had taken a cleaning job hoping to keep up the mortgage payments on their home, but there were fears that they would lose it.

He said Robinson was suffering from depression as a result of his remorse for the boy's death.