A ROAD safety group has called for tougher sentencing after a hit-and-run driver who killed a small child re-offended.

Mohammed Aqueel Hussain, 27, of Thurston Street, Burnley, was jailed for only 12 weeks after he knocked down three-year-old Levi Bleasdale in 2005.

This week he appeared at Burnley Magistrates' Court and pleaded guilty to three charges of driving while disqualified.

Road Safety group Brake branded the 12 week sentence an insult to Levi's death' and said the case showed the courts needed to impose tougher sentences to act as a deterrent.

Levi died in Pendlebury Children's Hospital on September 10, 2005, the day after she was struck by black Volkswagen Golf driven by Hussain outside Burnley College in Ormerod Road.

The car had been stolen and was uninsured.

Hussain was charged with causing death by careless driving and, in addition to the jail sentence, was banned from driving for five years.

This week he pleaded guilty to driving while banned, taking a vehicle without consent and driving without insurance.

The court was told that he had been spotted driving a Mercedes twice in Church Street and Leyland Road on September 28 by a police community support officer.

He was also found driving a Vauxhall Astra in Colne Road on November 18.

A spokesperson for Brake said: "Justice and punishment are meant to act as a deterrent, his 12-week sentence obviously didn't act as one.

"The 12-week sent-ence was a insult to Levi's death and has obviously had no affect on him as he has re-offended.

"Tougher sentences are needed to match the severity of the crime."

Magistrates told Hussain that a custodial sentence could not be ruled out and he was remanded in custody until December 7.