THE heartbroken family of a student who took her own life after being locked up for driving offences are launching a campaign calling for serious reform of the criminal justice system.

Katie Allan, 21, was found dead in her cell at Polmont prison on June 4 – less than a month before she was due to be released on a tag.

The Glasgow University student had been sentenced to 16 months behind bars in March after she admitted knocking down a teenage jogger in Giffnock while drunk at the wheel.

Katie pleaded guilty to causing serious injury to the 15-year-old boy by driving dangerously while she was more than four times above the legal alcohol limit on August 10 last year.

Her parents, Stuart and Linda, say that, while they fully accept she committed a serious offence and deserved to be punished, there are serious questions over her legal representation and the court case which convicted her.

They also claim their daughter was driven to suicide by Scotland’s criminal justice system.

In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, the couple said Katie believed she was being targeted for strip searches in Polmont because of her compliant nature.

They also said the geography student was mercilessly bullied at the prison, near Falkirk, and claim staff failed to act on serious self-harm marks on her body, which were eventually revealed in a post-mortem examination.

Katie’s family will hold a public meeting at Glasgow University’s chapel tomorrow, starting at 10am, as they aim to shed light on the need for reform of the criminal justice system.

They will focus on the processes for dealing with mental health.

Linda and Stuart, from Glasgow, have also cited similar cases in which offenders were spared prison.

A spokesperson for the Judicial Office for Scotland said: “In arriving at an appropriate sentence, the Sheriff must take into account what is put to the court by the prosecution and by the defence.

“The Sheriff must take account of the law and of the circumstances of each case.”