A hit-and-run driver who mowed down a pensioner on a pelican crossing while speeding in Wolverhampton has been jailed for almost four years.

Rabin Mahmood struck 80-year-old Hopton Gayle while travelling at more than 60mph on Stafford Road just after 6pm on 19 February last year.

The 19-year-old driver stopped only briefly to try and push down the bonnet of his VW Golf. He then dumped the car on the Wulfrun Industrial Estate around a mile away and removed the number plates. The teenager, of Bransdale Close, Wolverhampton, handed himself in at the city's police station just over two hours later.

Mahmood went on to admit causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop and having no insurance. He was jailed for three years and nine months and banned from the road for four years. Sergeant Alan Hands, from the force's Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said:

"Mr Gayle was sadly in the wrong place at the wrong time and would have had no reason to fear for his safety while using a pelican crossing.

"Our investigations showed Mahmood was travelling at 61mph at least when he hit Mr Gayle. Then his only concern was to try and push his car bonnet down so he could drive off rather than aid the victim following his shocking actions.

"A family has been left devastated by the actions of Mahmood and we only hope this prison sentence can give them at least some comfort."