A TEENAGE driver who killed a schoolgirl in a crash and left another youngster badly injured is being allowed home for up to three days at a time – just 15 months into a six-year prison sentence.

Ben Gemmell, 19, was jailed after ploughing his Citroen into a large group of young people in Tyrone Road, Thorpe Bay, in March, 2009. The crash killed Eleanor McGrath, 14, from Bishopsteignton, Shoebury.

Jack Horton, now 18, from Great Wakering, was left in a coma for months and suffered terrible head injuries from which he has not recovered.

Both families have now been informed Gemmell will be allowed home visits and has applied to move from Aylesbury Young Offenders Institution to Ford Open Prison, Sussex.

The families feel the criminal justice system has let them down.

Gillian McGrath, Eleanor’s mum, said: “We believe the decision will undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.”

Jack’s dad, Andy Horton, from Great Wakering, said the news had forced the victims’ families to relive a nightmare.

He added: “There are no conditions, no tagging, no curfew. Just complete freedom.

“Is that justice?

“He was given a prison sentence of six years for the crime and yet 15 months later he will be allowed to return to Southend with no strings attached.

“Where is the good old British justice in that?

“My son and my family are still suffering from that fateful night, as are all the other many families, and to have him back in our midst is a travesty of justice.”

The accident also left eight other youngsters seriously injured, and at least ten people suffered minor injuries.

Martin Ellis’s son Harry, now 18, was left traumatised after the accident.

Mr Ellis, 42, of High Street, Shoebury, said: “Harry sat with Jack to try to comfort him.

“Now Gemmell is to be allowed home visits. The impact on the local community and its young people is going to be immense.

“I am not against him going to an open prison so much, because he is young, but he should pay his dues.”

Gemmell, of Wyatts Drive, Thorpe Bay, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and eight counts of causing grievous bodily harm, in October, 2009. He was also banned from driving for ten years, at Basildon Crown Court.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said it could not comment on cases once they had been dealt with by the court system.

Lynne McKay, a spokeswoman for the Essex Probation Service, said: “An individual can serve a sentence in more than one prison, depending on their age, their crimes, the length of sentence and the type of risk they pose.

“The prison will review each prisoner’s case annually, and what happens to them next will depend on what work they have done on themselves in custody, their behaviour, and any security risk involved.

“As part of this assessment, victims’ views and concerns are sought.”