A YOUNG mother told of her anguish yesterday after the motorist who killed her husband and his best friend was jailed for just two-and-a-half years.

Charles McKay, 20, crashed his red Seat Toledo into Lee Benson Gardner, 29, and his motorbike pillion passenger Scott Gilderoy, 25, while trying to overtake in heavy fog.

Mr Gardner's 23-year-old widow, Lucy, said she had hoped that McKay would receive a stiffer sentence to deter other dangerous motorists.

McKay of Mansfield Road, Hawick, Lothian, Scotland, pleaded guilty to two charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

At his sentencing hearing yesterday, Newcastle Crown Court heard how the crash happened on October 14, last year, as the two friends travelled along the A696 near Belsay after a trip to Northumberland.

McKay, travelling with his two-year-old nephew and his girlfriend's brother, crashed into them head-on

Mr Gardner, from South Bents, Sunderland, who had a 10-month-old daughter, died instantly.

Mr Gilderoy, from Riverside, Castletown, Sunderland, suffered severe leg injuries and died from massive blood loss while being taken to Newcastle General Hospital.

Speaking after the hearing Mrs Gardner said: "A bigger sentence could have deterred other drivers from behaving like that, which would avoid families like us going through what we are going through."