A 39-year-old Indian-origin man found guilty of running over and killing a woman while driving on the streets of a small town in northwestern England has walked free after a British court handed him a suspended sentence.
Balbinder Dhillon fatally injured Donna Davies in Warrington in April last year as she walked down a footpath with her 10-year-old daughter.
Judge Nicholas Woodward at Warrington Crown Court ruled that Dhillon was suffering from "stress" when he ran over Davies, who threw her child out of the way bearing the full impact of the crash.
The defendant had admitted causing her death by dangerous driving and was given a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 300 hours' of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for five years.
He also has to pay a victim surcharge of 100 pounds.
Dhillon's suspended sentence allows him to serve a probationary period outside prison and if he does not break the law in the interim, he will be officially a free man.
The former director of a landlord and letting agency had been driving home after picking up his two children from kickboxing when the crash took place.
He was arrested when he was released from Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, where he was treated for injuries he sustained in the crash.
He had smoked cannabis, taken sleeping tablets before driving and claimed he had blacked out at the wheel of his car because he had been under stress over his wife's depression and his father's terminal illness.
The victim's husband, Paul Davies, however has vowed to fight for justice.
"It's a miscarriage of justice and a travesty...I thought he would get at least four years. I thought I was going to get closure of sorts but I never expected this," he told the 'Warrington Guardian'.
He is due to meet with officers at the Crown Prosecution Service to discuss appealing the sentence in the coming weeks.
"If Donna hadn't pushed my little girl out of the way then I would have been burying my own child. No parent should have to do that but Donna's did," he added.
