Nobody who reads about the tragic death of Liberty Baker can feel anything but sympathy for her parents Paul and Maureen.

To lose their 14-year-old daughter to the hands of a distracted, speeding driver is terrible enough, but to have to re-live the whole episode in court must have been extremely hard.

Robert Blackwell, 19, was at least doing 44mph in a 30mph zone and he failed to take a bend in the road and ploughed into Liberty, along with two other girls and council worker Paul Cracknell.

He had received a text message on his mobile phone just before the incident, although he denied checking his mobile before the crash.

Mr and Mrs Baker said they were “devastated” by the four year prison sentence handed to Blackwell for causing death by dangerous driving – and who can blame them?

The fact he will be out of prison in a few years’ time while they will live without their daughter for the rest of their lives seems desperately unfair.

But in truth, would any length of prison sentence make the senseless loss of a loved any easier to bear?

Perhaps the best we can hope for is to hammer home the message to drivers to always take care behind the wheel and to not be distracted by mobile phones.