Reckless drivers are getting away with murder on the roads because sentences are too soft, a North-East MP has told Parliament.

Labour's Gerry Steinberg said the case of Allan Jackson, responsible for the deaths of two County Durham women and their friend, highlighted problems in the law as it stands.

Jackson hit the women as he tried to escape from police in Huddersfield while three times over the limit.

His victims, Angela Ovington, Susan Briggs and Victoria Fisher, were walking home after a night out in Huddersfield.

Teacher Ms Ovington, 28, originally from Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, and 30-year-old Ms Briggs, a computer worker at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, whose family home was at Gilesgate Moor, Durham, both died within hours. Ms Fisher, 27, a teacher from Rochdale, died five days later.

Mr Steinberg, MP for Durham City, said current laws meant killer drivers could "get away with murder".

In a debate on dangerous driving, he said the three women had "their lives murderously snatched away" by a man with two previous drink-driving convictions.

The MP called for the Government to come up with concrete proposals in an effort to stop more deaths.

Unless this happened there would be more "appalling and heartbreaking cases" like the one he highlighted, he said.