A taxi driver who drove for a mile with a teenager trapped under his cab had his sentence increased from three to five years by the Court of Appeal yesterday.
Three judges in London ruled the original sentence on Ghulam Hussain, aged 44, of West Bromwich, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was "unduly lenient".
Lord Justice Keene said Hussain, a married man of previous good character, had shown "a wanton disregard" for the life of 17-year-old Scott Poll after the teenager fell under the front of his vehicle.
Mr Poll, of Wednesbury, had stepped in front of the slow-moving taxi to try to stop it as he walked home with two companions in the early hours of February 26.
His mutilated body was found after it had been dragged along roads which included a number of speed humps.
Mr Poll had been drinking and had shouted racist abuse at the father of six as he tried to hail his cab. The driver tried to avoid Mr Poll, but the youth stepped sideways to stay in front of the cab with his hands on the bonnet. When he lost his footing and fell under the vehicle, the driver accelerated away in fear and panic.
The next day, Hussain had the underside of his car steam-cleaned.
He was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on September 18 and was also disqualified from driving for five years.
Yesterday, Lord justice Keene, sitting with Mr Justice Bean and Sir Richard Curtis, said the consequences of Hussain’s actions had been "devastating" for the victim, whose young life had been cut short, and his family.
Hussain had put his own fear before the life of another person. His behaviour was "utterly reckless".
What weighed particularly heavily against him was that he continued driving when he was well away from the other two youths and did not even stop when the body fell from under his cab.
The judges allowed an application for an increase in the jail term.
