A GRIEVING mother says "no justice has been served" after learning the teenage driver who killed her eight-year-old son will be freed after just 18 months in prison.

Ashley Lindo, 16, was sent to a young offenders' institution for three years after he admitted causing the death by dangerous driving of Daniel Conroy-Curtin.

Daniel's mother, Clare Conroy, has been warned by police that Lindo will be released in November after serving half his sentence.

Lindo was driving a stolen Rover Metro in May last year in Riverside Park, Middlesbrough.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Lindo was "showing off" performing hand-brake turns and speeding along a footpath. He skidded and hit the Ayresome Primary School pupil who was playing with friends.

Daniel suffered severe head injuries and died in hospital nine days later.

Those inside the car - Lindo, Lee Fenton and Jason Wheatley, then both 18 - ran off. Lindo, of Orwell Street, Middlesborough, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking. His sentence of three years sparked public anger.

Ms Conroy told The Northern Echo: "It had only recently been Daniel's one-year memorial when I was told.

"The subject is still very raw and to hear this is just not fair. No justice has been served.

"It is going to be so hard to deal with, especially if I bump into him in the street. I have asked if there is a way I can stop him getting released, but I don't have a legal leg to stand on.

"I will never get over what happened to Daniel."

Ms Conroy, of Ayresome Street, Middlesbrough, has been asked by a victim liaison officer if she would like a face-to-face meeting with Lindo.

"I have questions I would like to ask him, but I haven't decided if I am going to agree to it yet," she said.

"They have told me it would be better if I met him there rather than meeting him in the street."

Lindo's co-defendants - Fenton, 19, of Oxford Street Middlesbrough and Wheatley, 18, of Meath Street, Middlesbrough - were each jailed for four years after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicle taking.

The Court of Appeal later cut these sentences to three years.