Killer driver Antonio Boparan freed from prison early

The former heir to a Black Country food empire who caused the death of a young girl when he crashed into the car she was in nine years earlier is out of jail early.

Cerys Edwards was left paralysed when the car she was in was hit head on by a Range Rover driven by Antonio Boparan and died nine years later aged 10.

Her death in 2015 led to Boparan being charged with killing her.

He was jailed for 18 months in March over the crash in November 2006 when he was 19 but is already free.

Boparan is the son of multi-millionaire businessman Ranjit Singh Boparan who founded the 2 Sisters Food Group which has plants in West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

Antonio was appointed as a director of the company in 2017 but resigned in April the following year, according to Companies House.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed the 32-year-old has been released from prison.

The Edwards family campaigned for tougher sentences for speeding drivers following the crash.

Cerys suffered catastrophic injuries when she was just a year old.

She was unable to breathe unaided and required 24-hour specialist care.

Her condition deteriorated in September 2014 when she was admitted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Cerys never left hospital again and died just over a year later, resulting in Boparan being charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

The court heard before the accident in Streetly Lane, Sutton Coldfield – which runs around Sutton Park and has a 30mph limit – Boporan had been travelling at up to 80mph.

Experts calculated he ploughed into the Edwards’ Jeep Cherokee at around 71mph.

Today Cerys' father Gareth branded Boparan's early release as a "joke" and a "disgrace".

He said: "He has served 13 months in total for killing a little girl - where is the justice in that?

"He is out in time to spend Christmas with his family and all I will be doing is laying a wreath on my daughter's grave.

"The sentence was a joke to start with but I just have no words to learn he hasn't even served half of his prison term. What has gone on here?

"He is a privileged little boy and I don't think his family's wealth is any coincidence that he has got away so lightly.

"I never though I'd live to see the day where the British justice system aired on the side of a child killer.

"He has effectively gotten away with killing my daughter. Nobody even told me he had been freed.

"It has been four years this month since Cerys died and it doesn't get any easier.

"It has ruined my life, I lost my marriage and my home and he gets 13 months for killing a little girl - its a disgrace.

"The legal system has sided with the perpetrator rather than the victim and that is the biggest travesty of justice."

Mr Edwards said in court that just a week before the crash the family had held a “big party” for Cerys’ first birthday.

“But nine days later I was performing CPR on my daughter, thanks to Antonio Boparan’s selfish stupidity,” he added.

The anti-speeding charity Brake said sentences needed to reflect the seriousness of driving offences, and their impact on victims.

A spokesman said: "All too often, drivers who kill receive sentences that fail to reflect the magnitude of their dangerous actions, leaving grieving relatives feeling grossly let down by our legal system.

"We need laws that act as a deterrent to other dangerous drivers, and penalties that reflect the suffering caused to deliver the justice that the victims of road crashes deserve."