A YOUNG mother today reacted with disgust and disbelief after the "reckless" driver who killed her son had his jail term slashed by Appeal Court judges.

Kirstie Buckle said she could not believe that Justin Martin's sentence had been reduced from three years and nine months to two-and-a-half years.

Martin, 32, of Little Fenton Lane, Sherburn-in-Elmet, overtook a school bus on the brow of a hill on a narrow country lane, crashing head-on into Kirstie's Rover car, near Saxton.

Her three-year son, Blake Spencer, was killed instantly and Kirstie, 23, now living with her parents in Sherburn-in-Elmet, is still in a wheelchair after 12 gruelling operations.

The Appeal Court judges in London yesterday agreed it was a "bad case of blind overtaking" and that Martin's driving had rightly been described by the sentencing judge at York Crown Court as "utterly reckless."

But they ruled that Martin's three years and nine months jail term for causing Blake's death by dangerous driving was "manifestly excessive".

Mr Justice David Clarke said he did not want Miss Buckle or anyone else to think the court was undervaluing the "priceless life" of Blake.

But despite the catastrophic consequences, Martin's driving only fell within the "intermediate category" of seriousness, and the original sentence imposed last August was too long.

Kirstie, who was in court yesterday in her wheelchair to hear the appeal, said that she and her mother Denise Mitchell could not believe the sentence had been cut.

She told the Evening Press: "I'm disgusted. My son is dead, I am still in a wheelchair and yet Martin could be out of prison in November. Where's the justice in that?

"He will be able to get on with his life and spend Christmas with his family. I will never be able to spend Christmas again with my son.

"He overtook a coach full of schoolchildren on a blind bend on the brow of a hill and has never even apologised."

The maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving was ten years at the time of the accident in January 2004. It was recently increased to 14 years.

Kirstie said: "I've been given a life sentence and I honestly think he should have got the maximum ten years."

At yesterday's hearing, Mr Justice Clarke said Martin was a hard-working family man of previous good character. He had risen from labourer to production manager and had himself lost a child to a degenerative condition.

He said the court had to draw a distinction between cases of "disastrous misjudgement" or inattention, like Martin's, and others where serious harm was actually intended.

Updated: 10:16 Tuesday, March 08, 2005