The Court of Appeal increased the sentence for a driver who killed his partner in an accident

The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence for a “callous and heartless” driver who killed his partner and seriously injured two other passengers after drinking alcohol and taking nitrous oxide.

Connor Malpass, 25, pleaded guilty to causing the death of Natasha Woroch and causing serious injury to his friend, Thomas Colcombe, and his partner, Imogen Rowlands, and was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison at Grimsby Crown Court in August.

Malpass reached a speed of 130km/h in a 30mph zone in Belton, North Lincolnshire, moments before hitting a wall and a lamppost, throwing Ms Woroch and Mr Colcombe from the car in July 2023.

After leaving the vehicle, Malpass tried to hide a bag with canisters of vodka and nitrous oxide inside and locate a Rolex watch that he had given to Ms. Woroch as a gift while she was lying on the ground “showing no signs of life,” the judge said.

The attorney general referred Malpass’s sentence to the Court of Appeal, arguing it was “excessively lenient.”

On Wednesday, three judges in London increased Malpass’s sentence to 13 years and six months in prison.

Judge William Davis, sitting with Mr Justice Murray and Mr Justice Shaun Smith KC, said Malpass had “behaved callously and callously – clearly more interested in recovering his valuable watch” than his partner’s well-being.

The judge added that a few days before the verdict, Malpass returned to driving, despite being temporarily disqualified.

Attorney-General Peter Ratliff said in written submissions that Malpass was driving a group between North Lincolnshire and Sheffield and had consumed and inhaled alcohol and nitrous oxide at the time of the crash.

Malpass was “repeatedly warned by passengers to slow down” during the journey, “but he refused” and drove at 93mph on a country road with a 40mph speed limit and at 84mph in a 30mph zone .

Ratliff claimed that Malpass was driving “at grossly excessive speed and in an erratic manner” and that Colcombe recalled that before the collision, Malpass was “driving like he was on a racetrack.”

The court was told Malpass disabled the car’s safety feature “if (if) the system detects wheel slippage, the brakes will automatically apply.”

After the crash, he was seen “spending the remaining time until police arrived searching Natasha Woroch and the scene,” Ratliff said.

He added: “At one point he kicked Natasha Worokh to check if she was under her right leg and then repeatedly stepped over her body while continuing to search.

“As he later told the police, he was looking for a watch he had bought for her.

“The watch, a rose gold Rolex, was later found in the grass near the scene of the collision.”

The court found that the cause of Mrs. Woroch’s death was most likely a head injury, and Mrs. Rowland suffered a deep wound to her thigh, two superficial injuries to her left abdomen and a fracture to her left elbow.

Mr Colcombe suffered injuries including a broken sternum, a wound to his left forearm and a bruise to his left eye.

Lewis Power KC, representing Malpass, said he accepted it was a “most terrible and disturbing case” but the sentence was “not unduly lenient”.

He told the court that since Malpass had been in prison, reports showed he had been “immature” but “now that he is in prison, he acknowledges that he is remorseful and that express prison is a salutary lesson in the decisions he has made.”

Stiffening the sentence, Judge William Davis described the “shattering impact” the event had on Ms Woroch’s mother, who “remembers every day how her daughter died because, because of where she lived, she had to drive past the scene of the collision on a regular basis.”

He said Ms Woroch’s mother felt Malpass was “tortureing” her when he went on holiday after the sentencing hearing was postponed in July.

The judge added: “In the weeks leading up to the collision there was an established tendency towards dangerous driving.

“On two occasions prior to the incident he was driving in a manner similar to the fatal collision.”