AT 9.20am on November 30 last year their lives changed forever. Every day without their daughter Lisa is still a struggle for Jeanette and Danny Newman.

Fighting back tears, Jeanette, 59, said: “It hasn’t got any easier; this morning was particularly tough because it was when we lost Lisa last year. We didn’t know she had died until that afternoon because they couldn’t identify her.

“The hardest bit was not being able to protect her; we have discovered that losing a child is the worst thing that can happen.”

Danny, 64, tries to comfort his wife at their Sandy Mead Road home in Bournemouth, putting a reassuring arm around her as she painfully relives the worst day of their lives.

He said: “Lisa’s three children have coped better than the adults of the family. They miss their mum terribly but we all make sure they are well loved.

“Lisa’s sister Kerry has become surrogate mum to Krystle, 24, Fleur, 18 and Boyd, 13. She moved in to their home to look after them after Lisa died, giving up her career and sacrificing going to Australia to stay with them. Kerry works long shifts and we help out as much as we can.

“They’re all coming to us for Christmas. Last year was very sad, we were still in a state of shock and like robots. Lisa had already bought the children their presents. Being a single parent was a real struggle but she had managed to come off benefits and got a job.

“It wasn’t easy for her but she was getting her life back again when it was taken away from her.”

Jeanette said: “In some ways this Christmas will be worse for us because the pain is so raw now. The enormity of what has happened is only really hitting us. We just hope that one day it will get easier.”

The couple had hoped to get some closure last month when Nigerian pastor Mayowa Afolabi was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court after admitting causing Lisa’s death by careless driving. Because the 32-year-old from Parham Road, Ensbury Park, Bournemouth, did not hold a UK driving licence he wasn’t insured.

The court heard how he had knocked Lisa off her bike on the roundabout linking Talbot Avenue, Wimborne Road and East Avenue, before dragging her under his Renault Megane and causing fatal chest injuries.

Although relieved that Afolabi pleaded guilty, sparing them the agony of enduring a trial, the Newmans do not feel that justice has been done.

In a poignant letter to Judge John Harrow they have asked why he handed Afolabi an eight-month prison sentence.

Danny said: “Because he is a family man we’ve been told that he could be tagged and out of prison by Christmas. It is so unfair that he could spend that time with his family when he has robbed us of another Christmas with Lisa.

Jeanette said: “Nothing will bring Lisa back but, if this spares other families from the same heartache and makes the judge reflect on the sentence he imposed, it will be a lasting legacy to her memory.”

Fiona Rutherford, Dorset's district crown prosecutor, said: "This case involved a defendant whose momentary lapse of concentration led to such tragic consequences.

"The CPS were able to identify certain aggravating features to the court. The judge made it clear that no sentence would bring the victim back before sentencing the defendant to a prison sentence commensurate with the guidance given in the case law."