Family’s grief as lorry driver who killed son, 3, jailed for just 12 months

The devastated parents of a three-year-old boy ploughed down by a lorry on a pedestrian crossing have told of their torment after seeing the driver jailed for just 12 months.

The mum and dad of Jaiden Mangan have vowed to battle for ­tougher sentences after it emerged Dean Phoenix, 44, is likely to be out in half that time.

Jaiden was fatally struck by his delivery lorry after Phoenix ran a red light after sarcastically clapping a car driver who had parked illegally.

The youngster was killed the day before his fourth birthday. His presents are still untouched at home.

Phoenix – who it emerged was out on licence after murdering his wife – was cleared of death by dangerous driving, which carries a sentence of up to 14 years.

He admitted the lesser charge of death by careless driving , which has a maximum five-year term.

Jaiden’s mum Yasmin Dougan, 24, said: “The law needs to change. I was just as shocked on the day of sentencing as I was the day my son died.”

The carer added: “We want a re-trial. His conviction should never have been reduced from dangerous driving to careless driving.

“It was more than just careless. I want to see life sentences introduced for death by dangerous driving.

“He took Jaiden’s life and will ­probably serve six months. But Jaiden won’t be here for the rest of his life.

“He was only three. We don’t get to watch him grow up and see what he achieves.

“Someone in charge of a lorry is someone in charge of a lethal weapon. He was supposed to be a ­professional driver, but he jumped a red light.”

Yasmin had deliberately chosen that route to Jaiden’s nursery because of its pedestrian crossings. His last moments on that day in March last year have haunted Yasmin ever since.

She replays them time and again.

“I blamed myself a lot. Some-times I still do. I kept asking myself questions, could I have done things differently?,” she said.

Jaiden’s older sister Miyah, now seven, was with them as they crossed the road near their home in Wareham, Dorset.

Yasmin had let Jaiden take his bicycle for the first time, rather than use the buggy, as it was nearly his birthday.

She said: “We were crossing the road safely and legally, the light for us was green. Jaiden was just inches from the pavement. I screamed ‘stop’ when I saw the lorry driver hit Jaiden but he kept ­going for a few seconds.

“I get flashbacks of Jaiden’s face as he was pulled under the lorry.

“I ran over to him and lifted his foot to get him out but remembered you’re not supposed to move someone after an accident.

“His eyes were wide open. I knew he was gone. I tried to hold his hand but it was so hard.

“He looked so tiny lying under the lorry. I screamed at the driver ‘you’ve killed my son!’ He kept saying ‘I know, I know.’

“He was shouting. The police got there quickly and started trying to resuscitate Jaiden.”

Yasmin’s estranged partner and the children’s dad James Mangan, 30, raced to the scene.

Police took them to the hospital where doctors tried in vain to revive Jaiden.

She said: “A doctor came out and said there was nothing more they could do. I went to the emergency room and told them to stop. Then I had one last cuddle with Jaiden.”

The memory is equally painful for James. “I held him as close as I could and kept telling him how much I loved him,” he recalled.

“I couldn’t stop saying that I was so, so sorry.

“He should have been at nursery playing with his friends instead.

“It was a five minute walk from our house to the nursery. I felt that as his father, I should have been able to ­protect him.”

He said even little Miyah had also blamed herself for the death of Jaiden, nicknamed JJ.

Groundsman James said: “She thought she should have pressed the button for the traffic lights for him that day.

“That she should have protected her little brother. JJ was her best friend, they were inseparable and she was so proud of him. She talks about him every day.”

James added: “I used to watch him while he slept, I’d sit there and tell him about how I’d take him up mountains and show him the world.

“I climbed Ben Nevis recently and took up some of his toys and a photo so that he could climb that mountain, too.”

Phoenix told Bournemouth Crown Court he had “made a mistake”.

Just seconds before the fatal accident he was seen mocking a driver parked illegally.

As he pulled out around it he failed to see the traffic lights had changed.

A jury cleared Phoenix of causing death by dangerous driving.

At his sentencing it was revealed he had been jailed for life by Kingston upon Thames Crown Court in July 2004 for strangling his 26-year-old wife Naomi the year before.

James said: “The court failed us. We were shocked and angry. He’s clearly a danger to society, yet he gets 12 months.

“He’ll be out in October but Jaiden’s gone forever.

“The fact that he was on licence didn’t even ­affect his sentence. The judge said it had nothing to do with it. But the man’s killed two people in 16 years.

“We were devastated and shocked by the outcome of the trial. We expected the trial to be the end but now I feel that we have to push to change the law, to do the best that we can do in memory of JJ. I want to change the law for JJ and for other victims.

“I want past convictions shared with the jury in a trial if the ­defendant is on licence.”

Despite her loss, Yasmin has been trolled on social media.

She said: “People comment that I should’ve been holding his hand but you don’t understand unless you’re there yourself.”

Jaiden was laid to rest in a Lightning McQueen coffin, a character from the film Cars.

James and Miyah now live a two-minute walk from his grave in Wareham, Dorset.

They regularly visit his final resting place, where his toys are laid out, and remember the little boy taken from them too soon.

Minister's life sentence vow

Last year then Justice Minister Dominic Raab pledged to toughen up sentencing for killer drivers.

He said in the worst cases “we intend to introduce life sentences for those who wreck lives.”

Lawyer Raj Chada, partner at Hodge Jones and Allen, explained that death by careless driving is a fall below the standard expected by competent and careful individual drivers.

Dangerous driving would include racing, speeding through traffic lights, prolonged time on a mobile, texting or watching a video at the wheel.

He said overtaking on the inside or through a red light when it just changes would be careless driving.

  • To find out more about Jaiden's parents campaign, head to their Facebook page or their Change.org page

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