Anger as crash driver escapes prosecution over two teenagers' deaths

Jade Rice and Daniel Atkinson, both 17, were killed after asking Mohammed Tanwir for a lift from their accommodation – designed to help young people leaving local authority care – to a nearby petrol station.

The joint inquest of the Halifax friends heard Tanwir had taken them against the rules of the Aspirations care home, and at about 12.30am on January 29, 2006, his customised Toyota Corolla hit a tree and a lamp post at 80mph in a 40mph zone in Huddersfield.

The care worker escaped punishment in November 2006 after a judge ruled a charge of causing death by dangerous driving could not be put before a jury.

A verdict of unlawful killing was recorded at the inquest in Bradford, giving Jade and Daniel's parents hope. But this was dashed when Attorney General Baroness Scotland ruled that she could not refer the case back to court.

Jade's stepfather, Barry Noble, 47, said: "I can't understand how it is not in the public interest for a man who was driving when two children were unlawfully killed to be put before a jury."

The families have been helped throughout their battle by barrister Nareem Siraj, who worked for free, but the judicial route appears finally to have finally been exhausted.