FRIENDS of York bus crash victim Mohamed Eltahtawy today reacted with outrage at the "lenient" sentence given to the man responsible for his death.

James Christopher Glenton was yesterday jailed for five-and-a-half years for the manslaughter of the father-of-three by grabbing the wheel of a First bus, in Bootham, York, last April.

Mr Justice Holland branded the former fire hero as "aggressive, violent, self-centred, arrogant and completely irresponsible" for his behaviour leading up to the crash.

Ronald Pethick, 35, who was a close friend of Mr Eltahtawy's and lived with him for a short time, said the sentence was "not long enough".

"He will be out in about two years and have the rest of his life to live, but my mate's dead," he said.

"I'm not surprised the sentence is as short as it is. Criminals seem to be let out far too early."

Mandy Young, from Walmgate, a friend of Mr Eltahtawy's for 20 years, said it should have been "life for a life".

"It's scandalous," she said. "I don't think justice has been done."

The court heard Glenton's drunken antics on the Ikon and Diva free bus service had been so bad that two of his own companions, as well as Egyptian-born Mr Eltahtawy, 49, had moved to get away from him.

In a bitter irony, Mr Eltahtawy's decision was to cost him his life, when the bus crashed minutes later. Nicholas Ralph, prosecuting said Glenton, of Rowntree Avenue, Clifton, had started drinking at 7pm and arrived at the nighclub at 10pm where he had more than ten drinks.

Jonathan May, managing director of First in York, said: "Our wish is that the consequences of what happened will send a clear message to anybody inclined to behave in this way in future, but our thoughts today are with the deceased who lost his life under such tragic circumstances."

Glenton, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was said to be deeply remorseful and apologised to everyone on the bus and to Mr Eltahtawy's family.

Last year Glenton was involved in the dramatic rescue of a man from a flat only yards from his home in Rowntree Avenue.

He and his brother, Wesley, bravely jumped into the blazing property to pull him out, and then checked his pulse and covered him with jumpers before help arrived.

Updated: 09:30 Saturday, September 11, 2004