DISTRAUGHT family members have criticised the prison sentence imposed on a drink driver responsible for the deaths of a father and son.

Mark Sidney Murray, 22, was jailed for five-and-a-half years after admitting causing the deaths of Redcar man Malcolm 'Mally' Gellatly, 48, and his 28-year-old son Shaun, by dangerous driving, plus driving with excess alcohol.

The pair, both rear seat passengers, were thrown from Murray's Rover 400 car, which left a road at high speed and overturned several times, before coming to rest in a tree, off the A177 road in Bowburn in the early hours of Sunday, June 13, last year.

Malcolm Gellatly, of Westfield Way, and his son, of Park Avenue, Coxhoe, were being given a lift to Shaun's home from Durham by Murray.

Durham Crown Court was told that witnesses estimated he was driving at a speed of between 90 and 100 miles per hour before losing control on a bend and clipping a kerb.

Murray, who crawled out of a car window after briefly being knocked unconscious, was one-and-a-half times over the legal drink/drive limit.

Murray, of Spennymoor, told police he had drunk five pints of 'diesel' a mix of cider, lager and blackcurrant juice, at a colleague's birthday function and then in pubs in Durham.

Lesley Kirkup, prosecuting, said on climbing from the car, Murray said: "What have I done, what have I done?

"I've done that. I've killed them. I'm going to prison."

He told a police officer at the scene: "How come I look like this and they look like that? I want to go to prison."

Christine Egerton, for Murray, said he has little memory of the incident, but admits having been 'stupid' by driving after drinking.

"He has expressed the deepest regret at the outcome and extended a sincere apology to the families of the deceased.

Judge Richard Lowden said: "No length of prison sentence is intended, or can possibly measure against the worth of the lives lost."

After the hearing Malcolm's former wife Sandra Clements, the mother of Shaun, and his wife, Amanda, both said: "It's just not long enough. As far as we're concerned he's taken away two fantastic men. We are left leading a life sentence. He's ripped my life apart."

Malcolm worked at Bowcroft pre-casting in South Bank, Middlesbrough.