A cocaine-fuelled driver who killed a toddler has been revealed to be a gang leader who was previously released from jail early.

Rawal Rehman, 35, had snorted '20 lines' of the Class A drug in seven hours and visited two massage parlours before the tragedy the following morning.

His three-year-old victim Louisa Palmisano was on the pavement in central Manchester with her parents when Rehman's Mercedes Sprinter van collided with a tram before careering into them.

Now it has been reported that he had earlier served two separate spells behind bars.

The first was in 2017 for helping an associate in the wake of another fatal crash, while the next came the following year over his role leading a criminal gang in south Manchester, the Sun reported.

Rehman was given in February 2018 a sentence of 11 years and three months after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis, the Manchester Evening News reported at the time.