M66 death crash driver Adil Iqbal has sentence referred

Adil Iqbal, 22, of Hope Street, Accrington, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment and disqualified from driving for 14 years at Manchester Minshull Steet Crown Court after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury.

Frankie Hough, from Chadderton in Oldham, was in the car with her two sons, Tommy and Rocky, and her nephew, Tobias, on Saturday, May 13, when Iqbal drove in excess of 100mph and subsequently lost control of his car and crashed into their vehicle.

Adil Iqbal (Image: SWNS)

On that day, Iqbal sped onto the M66 in his BMW and began weaving in out of traffic while filming his driving on his mobile phone.

The 22-year-old undertook a motorbike before overtaking a car in the inside lane, and reached speeds of more than 100mph moments before impact.

Not expecting the BMW to approach from high speed from behind, the car in the inside lane moved to another lane which led to Iqbal dropping his phone and losing control.

Iqbal crashed into the motorway barriers and a Skoda – Ms Hough’s car - that had pulled onto the hard shoulder.

The family was taken to hospital by air ambulance but the 38-year-old and her unborn baby girl, Neeve, died two days later.

Frankie Hough (Image: Go Fund Me)

Passing sentence, the judge told Iqbal: “She (Frankie) was killed as a result of the most indescribable reckless driving by you Adil Iqbal, leading to the devastation of a family.”

Ms Hough's nine-year-old son, Tommy, and her four-year-old nephew, Tobias Welby, have now left hospital, where they were in critical care, but still require ongoing physiotherapy.

In May Tobias' family shared that the four-year-old was placed in an induced coma with a brain injury and a fractured skull.

At an inquest opening into Ms Hough's death in May, the court heard she pulled into the hard shoulder on the M66.

During the hearing at Rochdale Coroner's Court police coroners officer Tracy Bunn said Ms Hough was on the M66 heading towards Manchester when she pulled over to the hard shoulder.

PCO Bunn gave the cause of death as "head injuries".

In June a funeral was held at Blackley Crematorium for Frankie and her unborn daughter Neeve.

In a public post on social media, Frankie's sister, Becci Welby, announced the special service was being held to "celebrate the life of my beautiful sister Frankie and baby Neeve".

Following Frankie's death, tributes and donations to her and her family have poured in, with a GoFundMe page raising more than £50,000 in donations.

Now, Iqbal’s sentence of 12 years has been referred to the Attorney General’s Office under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.

The Attorney General’s Office will consider Iqbal’s case following a referral from a member of the public.

It will consider if there are grounds to refer the case to the Court of Appeal for being unduly lenient.

If it is referred, judges at the top court in the land may hear the case and then make a judgment; either agreeing it is unduly lenient and extending the sentence, disagreeing and leaving the sentence the same, or they may even refuse to hear the case at all.

Anyone can make a referral to the Attorney General under the ULSS, and numerous people asked for this case to be reviewed.