Solicitor General Harriet Harman has decided not to increase the five-and-a-half year jail term imposed on a drink-driver who killed two nurses and maimed a third.

She has turned down a plea from the girls' parents to reconsider the sentence imposed on Graham Travers.

Travers, 21, a barman, of Shelldale Road, Portslade, was over the drink-drive limit and had no insurance or licence when he crashed a car at 70mph in Portland Road, Hove, last October.

He escaped with minor injuries but his three passengers were thrown from the vehicle.

He was jailed by Judge Rafferty at Lewes Crown Court earlier this year.

Ms Harman said if Travers had pleaded not guilty and had been convicted, the sentence could have been eight-and-a-half years.

But the judge correctly gave Travers credit for pleading guilty.

She said: "I can fully appreciate the sentence does not begin to compensate for the appalling loss you and others have suffered.

"I hope you will appreciate, while being understandably very upset with my decision, that I have looked very carefully at the facts of this case and the relevant sentence guidelines."

Jane McCabe's daughter Natalie "Flo" McCabe, 21, of Ravensbourne Road, Shoreham, was one of those killed.

Mrs McCabe said Travers pleaded guilty only at the last minute when he realised the evidence was stacked against him and he did not deserve leniency.

Tarnyar Browne, mother of the second victim, Vicki, 19, of Bentham Road, Brighton, said: "I am not very surprised by the news - the justice system is diabolical.

"Travers' defence put us through the ordeal of a second post-mortem and he waited until the last minute before admitting the offences.

"It all seems stacked in favour of the guilty."

The third casualty, Becky Fish, 20, from Mile Oak, lost a leg and damaged the other.

Her mother Gill was equally angry at the decision.

She said: "Travers was let off by the court for what he did.

"He showed no remorse whatsoever."

Mrs McCabe and her husband Ray hope to challenge Ms Harman's ruling and have amassed more than 10,000 signatures on a petition calling for stiffer sentences for motorists who drive uninsured, unlicensed or after drinking.

Mrs McCabe praised Sussex Police for their efforts in bringing Travers to justice.