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Motorist loses crash death appeal | |
(about 6 hours later) | |
A motorist who was drunk when she hit and killed a 15-month-old boy in his pushchair has lost her appeal against her seven-year sentence. | |
Katie Gutierrez-Perez, 41, had also taken 14 sleeping tablets in a failed suicide attempt when she hit Finlay Woods in Chingford, east London. | |
She was jailed in January at Snaresbrook Crown Court for causing death by dangerous driving in 2008. | |
The Court of Appeal threw out the mother-of-two's case on Friday. | |
The child's parents were present in court for the proceedings. | |
Tragic case | |
Gutierrez-Perez was in the dock of the court to hear the ruling. | |
Lord Justice Aikens, who said the "facts of this tragic case are chilling", announced that the sentence imposed was "absolutely correct" - it was neither wrong in principle nor manifestly excessive. | |
She was driving to hospital after a failed suicide attempt, the original trial heard. | |
She was one-and-a-half times above the legal alcohol limit and had also taken 14 sleeping tablets in an effort to kill herself after she got into financial difficulties following the break-up of her 18-year marriage. | |
Moments before the crash in September last year, a car tax inspector had tried to stop her driving the vehicle. | |
The inspector found Gutierrez-Perez's car was declared off the road and also discovered her rear tyre was dangerously low on pressure. | |
But while he called for a tow truck, she sped off, having changed her mind about suicide for the sake of her two teenage children and decided to drive herself to hospital for treatment. | |
After sentencing, Finlay's mother said no jail term could ease her suffering. |