Justice for Joseph campaign

Joseph Brown-Lartey’s family at 10 Downing Street with Liz McInnes MP and Tony Lloyd

Liz McInnes, MP for Heywood and Middleton, joined members of Joseph Brown-Lartey’s family at 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition signed by 20,000 people backing the Justice for Joseph campaign.

Joseph was killed in a car crash by Addil Haroon in November 2014. Haroon was doing 80mph in a 30mph zone and ran a red light at the junction of Bury Road and Sandy Lane, Rochdale.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/92400/man-dies-in-horrific-early-morning-car-crash

Haroon was sentenced to just six years for killing Joseph.

The Justice for Joseph campaign was formed, and over 20,000 people have signed a petition against the lenient sentence given to Haroon.

Ms McInnes has also wirtten to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, asking him to "give full and urgent consideration to committing the Government to review driving sentences" (see below).

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Rt Hon David Cameron MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA

13 April 2016

Dear Mr Cameron,

Justice for Joseph Campaign

This afternoon, I joined members of Joseph Brown-Lartey’s family at 10 Downing Street to hand in a petition signed by 20,000 people backing the Justice for Joseph campaign.

Joseph Brown-Lartey was killed in a car crash by Addil Haroon in November 2014. Haroon was doing 80mph in a 30mph zone and ran a red light at a busy cross road junction. This crash happened just 24 hours after Haroon bragged about speeding at 142mph (photographing the speedometer) while on the mobile phone app Snapchat. He said “Leeds to Rochdale in 11 minutes. Catch me.”

Haroon was sentenced to just 6 years for killing Joseph. Haroon messaged his partner after sentencing “I won’t even be going to proper prison. It will be the junior place because I am 18. If all goes well it will only be one year.”

Within 24 hours of sentencing, the Justice for Joseph campaign was formed, and 4,000 people had signed a petition against the lenient sentence given to Haroon. With the help of Joseph’s family, and Michelle Livesey from Key 103 Radio in Manchester, the petition now stands at 20,000.

In January, I met with the Secretary of State for Justice with other MP’s who have had similar incidents in their constituencies. The meeting was productive, and it was reassuring to know the Secretary of State understood our concerns, and agreed that, amongst other changes, sentencing guidelines need to reflect the distinction between careless and dangerous driving.

Greg Mullholland’s Criminal Driving (Justice for Victims) Bill is due for its second reading at the end of April. With Government support, this bill can become law.

I would be most grateful for your thoughts on the Justice for Joseph campaign, and would appreciate you giving full and urgent consideration to committing the Government to review driving sentences.

I shall look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Liz McInnes MP
Labour Member of Parliament for Heywood & Middleton