蜜芽传媒

A speeding lorry driver has escaped a prison sentence after the family of the man he killed begged a judge to let him keep his freedom.

Brian Herrick was killed just after dropping his partner and sisters at East Midlands airport, when Luke Bates' truck, which was doing 47 miles an hour in a 40 zone then smashed into his car.

Bates received a two-year driving ban, a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years and was ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

Brian's sister Kathleen Owens, spoke to 5 live Daily's Sam Walker about how she told the judge not to send Luke Bates to jail because it would leave his children without a father.

She said: "We wouldn鈥檛 benefit from Luke being in prison and his family most certainly wouldn鈥檛, they would suffer. There is enough suffering in the world, he is not a bad man.鈥�

This clip is originally from 5 live Daily on Monday 4 April 2016.