A 19-year-old man has admitted causing a cyclist serious injuries in a hit and run crash last month.

Jacek Szafranski was riding his bike to work in Poole Road at around 4.45am on October 27 when he was struck by a Vauxhall Tigra being driven by Benjamin George. He suffered a broken leg and wrist and several deep cuts.

George, of Cornish Gardens, Bournemouth, entered a guilty plea to one count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Bournemouth Crown Court on Thursday (DEC 1), along with related counts of failing to stop, failing to report a crash, having no licence or insurance and making off from a petrol station without paying.

He admitted three further charges, including driving a Ford Puma dangerously on A338 Wessex Way on October 14, and having no licence or insurance in respect of this earlier incident.

At the hearing Nicholas Robinson, representing George, said: "My client is anxious to put on the record his sincere apologies.

"He knows they will probably be received with scepticism. He knows he is going to receive a custodial sentence."

Judge Peter Johnson directed that a sentencing hearing should take place on Thursday, December 22. He warned George he faced a term in prison.

"Only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate for this type of offending," he said. "It will be much longer than any you have served in the past."

Mr Szafranski, a top level volleyball player who competes in the Solent Volleyball Team, was lucky not to be more seriously injured in the crash, according to friends who followed his recovery in hospital.

He had been riding to work at UK Mail in Poole at the time of the crash.

His bike was smashed apart, and a fundraising appeal online has collected £2,225 in donations to buy him a replacement.

Dorset Police has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission as the car involved in the crash on October 27 had been involved in a police pursuit.

A marked police car was in Poole Road at the time of the crash, although the pursuit had ended more than two hours before.