Driver who filmed boyfriend hanging out of car has sentence increased

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy ISABELLA MACHIN, REPORTER Published: 17:14 BST, 11 September 2026 | Updated: 17:15 BST, 11 September 2026

A driver who killed her teenage boyfriend in a crash while filming him hanging out of the car window has had her jail sentence increased by a year and a half.Mia Howarth, 21, was driving while videoing 17-year-old Alfie Lovett who was sitting on the frame of the open window, the Court of Appeal heard.She was jailed for three years but the Attorney General said the term was 'unduly lenient' and referred the case to the Court of Appeal, where judges increased it to four and a half years on Friday.Howarth, 18 at the time, was driving a Peugeot 107 on a rural, single-carriageway North Yorkshire road with three 17-year-old male passengers listening to 'thumping music' on September 12, 2023.She lost control of the vehicle while driving at 35mph and filming Alfie on Snapchat, and veered into a grass verge, colliding with a dry-stone wall.Alfie was caught between the wall and the vehicle and died at the scene, despite passers-by attempting CPR, the court was told.Howarth admitted causing death by dangerous driving at York Crown Court in March. The Attorney General said the original sentence failed to adequately punish Howarth or act as a deterrent to further crime.Lord Justice Popplewell, sitting with Mr Justice Linden and Mrs Justice Hill, said the sentencing judge was wrong to reduce the sentence because of poor conditions in UK prisons, and had reduced the sentence too much to reflect Howarth's age. Mia Howarth admitted causing death by dangerous driving at York Crown Court in March Alfie was caught between the wall and the vehicle and died at the scene, despite passers-by attempting CPR,The judge said: 'We agree the judge fell into error in the way he applied a reduction for youth.'He said there was also limited mitigation in the delay in charging Howarth.During the hearing, Kelly Brocklehurst, representing the Attorney General, said: 'We acknowledge there was a significant amount of mitigation but ultimately it was a sentence that had to punish the offender and deter further acts.'Glenn Parsons, representing Howarth, said the case was a 'profound tragedy' and Howarth's grief was 'overwhelming'.He said she was 'embedded' in the Lovett family and was a good influence on Alfie, who had become a father 12 weeks before his death.He said the delay in charging Howarth was unacceptable as she had admitted killing Mr Lovett at the roadside.She also told police she had told the boys they must wear seatbelts and it would be 'her fault' if they took them off, the court heard.The teenagers were on the way to Brimham Rocks, a National Trust site near Harrogate.Howarth appeared in court via video link from HMP Low Newton near Durham and sobbed during the hearing.