A death crash driver was jailed for 11-and-a-half years yesterday.

Ian Carr, 27, killed six-year-old Rebecca Sawyer and left her 18-month-old sister, Kirsty, fighting for life when he smashed a stolen Vauxhall Astra into their family car.

The tragic death on New Year's Eve was the second caused by Carr, 27, who already had 89 previous convictions.

Sentencing him at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge David Hodson said: "Nothing I can say can begin to adequately describe the revulsion that the community feels at what you have done.

"Everyone is understandably appalled."

Carr, of Ashington, Northumberland, received nine-and-a-half years for the death crash, which will be served after 688 days outstanding from a previous sentence.

But Rebecca's devastated father, Steven, said last night that Carr should have got life. He is now campaigning for a change in the law.

"Nothing but a life sentence will stop Ian Carr from going behind the wheel of a car in future and no doubt he will," he said.

"When I saw him in the dock I felt nothing but hatred for him.

"I just hope he can be stopped from doing it again somehow, I don't know how. But if it means a change in the law then that is what must happen."

Mr Sawyer, a postman, of Ashington, received terrible facial injuries when his car was hit.

The court heard how the Vauxhall, which had been stolen in Durham, had jumped a red light. Police estimated that it hit Mr Sawyer's Citroen Saxo at more than 40mph in the family's home town. Kirsty was catapulted through the back windscreen. Rebecca, was killed instantly.

Carr, who has never held a driving licence, had pleaded guilty to causing Rebecca's death by dangerous driving.

He also admitted aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified, driving with no insurance, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident.

In a letter submitted to the judge, Carr expressed "real contrition" for what he had done.

Paul Caulfield, mitigating, said: "He is struggling for words to describe how he feels but he displays considerable remorse."

Carr had been released from a six-year sentence for burglary only a few months before the crash.

In 1990, he was at the wheel of a stolen Metro which spun out of control and killed his best friend, Mark Wren, 16, only a few miles from the spot where Rebecca was killed.

Carr had rifled his pockets and run away to a friend's house to concoct a false alibi.

Yesterday, the Sawyer family left court to go to Kirsty's bedside at Newcastle General Hospital.

The youngster is making some good progress and it is thought she has not suffered any lasting brain damage despite massive head injuries