Person down Oval 29/06/09

Sentencing is performed along fairly rigorous guidelines (available here). Magistrates must follow these, and they would give a reasonable indication of why 7 of a possible 14 years was passed.

Just for clarity - Tiswas is totally spot on - the Mag's Court guidelines can be found here, with the driving at the back:

http://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/docs/web_sgc_magistrates_guidelines_including_update_1__2__3_web.pdf

Magistrates only able to sentence to a max of 12 months, beyond that it's Crown Court

The definitive Dangerous Driving Guidelines are here, and although a long document explains how the guidelines are reached and the things that need to be taken into consideration:

http://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/docs/web_causing_death_by_driving_definitive_guideline.pdf

If a judge/magistrate deviates from the guidelines they need to explain in open court why.

NOTE - i have not been following this case, so the above is just general info from t'interweb - not sure exactly what the guy was charged with.