Calvin Buckley, the partner of a pregnant mother killed along with her unborn child, has expressed his shock and disappointment after learning that the dangerous driver responsible could be released early under plans to ease prison overcrowding.
Frankie Jules-Hough, 38, was travelling with her sons Tommy, then nine, and Rocky, then two, and nephew Tobias, then four, when her car was struck by Adil Iqbal, who lost control of his father's BMW on the M66 through Bury. Iqbal, then 22, had earlier filmed himself reaching speeds of 123mph before crashing into Frankie's Skoda Fabia, which was on the hard shoulder with a puncture.
Sentenced for causing death by dangerous driving
Frankie was 17 weeks pregnant, and she and Calvin had planned to name the child Neeve. Tommy and Tobias suffered serious injuries, while Rocky, in a child seat, was miraculously unharmed. In July 2023, Iqbal was jailed for 12 years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Minshull Street Crown Court. The sentence was later increased to 15 years on appeal.
Early release scheme
It has now been revealed that Iqbal could be among thousands of criminals released early. Under changes to the Sentencing Act, around 6,000 offenders will be released in October after serving a third of their sentence, rather than half, to ease prison overcrowding. The Ministry of Justice has defended the move, saying it will prevent prisons 'reaching capacity and collapsing'. Prisoners serving four years or more will be eligible for release at the halfway point, rather than at two-thirds as before.
Following confirmation that driving offence convicts are not exempt, Calvin spoke out. He said he received a letter in June indicating Iqbal could be released early.
Calvin's reaction
He told BBC Breakfast: "I'm quite shocked and disappointed really, with the news. I mean I got a letter in June saying that the offender of Frankie's case may be up for early release, but I didn't think that would happen."
"I did hope that people who caused death by dangerous driving, serious offences like that was excluded from it. And now I'm having to deal with the fact that he could be released, maybe, it would have been three years. Which is something that I wasn't prepared for."
"It's just heartbreaking to think that the government are not seeing it as serious and this is how it felt when we first appealed. That it's not being given the acknowledgement that it is and how serious and the impact and how devastating that is."
"She had two sons at the time and yeah, our life was taken by children. It was all about family. We was expecting our first child together as well. Frankie was 17 weeks pregnant at the time she was killed."
"Our life was about our children, building a future together, and we've had that taken away. There's no way I feel like any offender of that category, who has caused catastrophic injuries or death by dangerous, there's no way they should be up for early release."
Ministry of Justice defends scheme
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We have been clear that we wanted to go further and block more offenders from getting out sooner into their sentence, but could not do so without risking prisons reaching capacity and collapsing."
"If that happened, police could not make arrests, courts could not remand offenders and there would be unchecked criminality on our streets."
"We are pulling every lever to protect the public and cut crime, building prison places at the fastest rate since the Victorian era, launching the biggest ever expansion of tagging to toughen community punishment and increasing support to victims, giving them a say in the strict licence conditions of offenders."
