A DRUG-driver who was jailed earlier this year for killing two young boys in a hit-and-run was found dead in his cell on Christmas Day.

Robert Brown was serving a 10-year prison sentence for mowing down Corey and Casper Platt-May, aged six and two, in Coventry.

The 53-year-old was high on cocaine when he ploughed into the boys at double the 30mph limit as they crossed a road with mum Louise, 28, in February.

Just a few months later, their grief-stricken dad Reece Platt-May, 30, took his own life at a hotel on the Greek island of Corfu.

Brown was jailed in April after admitting all charges against him, including two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

But he had his jail term increased from nine years to 10 and a half by the Court of Appeal in July.

A spokesman for Serco, which manages the prison, said: "We can confirm a prisoner died yesterday (Christmas Day) at HMP Dovegate, and, as is normal, the death will be subject to a coroner's investigation."

Brown, of Wyken, Warwickshire, had never had a driving licence and was banned from driving at the time of the crash.

He had taken cocaine, diazepam and zopiclone and was driving his Ford Focus at more than 60mph in a 30mph zone on February 22 when he ploughed into the brothers.

Brown, who fled the scene, had 30 previous convictions for driving offences and had only been released from prison six days before the crash after serving half of a six-month sentence for having an offensive weapon.

His passenger at the time of the crash, Gwendoline Harrison, 42, also of Wyken, was jailed for six months after admitting assault intending to resist arrest and attempting to flee the scene.

Family members told how the boys' parents and two other brothers, Connor, nine, and four-year-old Cooper, were left devastated after their deaths.

Friends persuaded taxi driver Reece to go to Corfu for a week to try to “take his mind off things”, while Louise went away with some friends the week before.

But the dad-of-four was unable to live with the tragedy, according to pals.