A speeding driver who killed two young brothers in a hit-and-run while high on drugs could have his nine-year jail term increased.

Robert Brown, who was already banned from driving, was travelling at more than twice the speed limit and had a cocktail of drugs in his system when he mowed down Corey and Casper Platt-May, aged six and two.

The boys were on their way to a park with their mother Louise Platt-May when they were struck by Brown’s Ford Focus as they crossed MacDonald Road, Coventry, in February.

Mrs Platt-May called for the Government to introduce stiffer penalties for “drivers who think they are about the law” after Brown was jailed at Warwick Crown Court in April.

Their father Reece Platt-May was found dead while on holiday in Greece in May.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland has now referred Brown’s sentence to the Court of Appeal, where he will argue on Tuesday that it was “unduly lenient” and ask leading judges to increase it.

Brown, 53, admitted all charges against him, including two counts of death by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and driving without a licence or insurance.

Casper and Corey Platt-May
Two-year-old Casper Platt-May (left) and six-year-old Corey Platt-May, who were killed in a hit-and-run by Robert Brown (PA)

He was driving his Ford Focus at more than 60mph in a 30mph zone at about 2pm on February 22 when he ploughed into the brothers.

Despite efforts to save them, the boys died in hospital a short while later.

Brown, Attwood Crescent in Wyken, Warwickshire, had taken cocaine, diazepam and zopiclone in the hours before the crash.

He had 30 previous convictions for driving offences and was only released from prison six days before the crash, after serving half of a six-month sentence for having an offensive weapon.

Brown’s passenger at the time of the crash Gwendoline Harrison, 42, of Triumph Close, Wyken, was jailed for six months after admitting assault intending to resist arrest and attempting to flee the scene.

At the sentencing hearing, Mr Platt-May read a victim impact statement on behalf of the boys’ mother, who had written: “This monstrous act has destroyed me.”

Wearing a Manchester United scarf, he told the crown court: “My heart is broken, my heart is broken and time will never heal this.

“I love my boys with all my heart, and they will never be forgotten.”

He added: “The look on their faces will stay with me all my life.”

An inquest, which was adjourned to a later date, heard Mr Platt-May, 30, of Hipswell Highway, Coventry, was found hanged in a hotel on the Greek island of Kos, where he was on holiday with a friend.

In a statement released by her lawyers Irwin Mitchell after Brown was jailed, Mrs Platt-May said he had shown a “total disregard for the law”.

She added: “Because of him we are living a life sentence knowing we will never see our boys grow up, whilst he will be out of prison in just a few years and will be free to continue his life.

“We will never come to terms with how Corey and Casper were taken far too soon.

“Our only hope now is that some good comes out of their deaths through the introduction of tougher punishments for drivers who think they are above the law.”

The Court of Appeal hearing will take place before Sir Brian Leveson and two other senior judges.