A VAN driver who failed to stop after ploughing into an 81-year-old pedestrian has been jailed for 12 weeks.

Ashley John Hughes did not slow down despite the female pedestrian being thrown into the air and left critically injured.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard Hughes, 28, of Rockley Park in Poole continued along Macaulay Road in Broadstone after the collision, ignored a No Entry sign to turn into Story Lane and travelled the wrong way down a one-way street.

The woman suffered life-threatening injuries including a bleed to her brain and a fractured spine. She has no recollection of what happened and has lost her short-term memory. She remains in hospital and requires constant care. Police have described Hughes’ actions as “shocking and unforgivable.”

He was sentenced on Friday January 6 having previously pleaded guilty to failing to stop at the scene of a collision, failing to report an accident, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and failing to appear at court.

He was sent to prison, banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £300 in compensation.

The court heard that at 2.45pm on Friday September 30 the woman stepped into the path of a small white van in an attempt to cross the road. Witnesses said the van was not travelling fast but the driver did not take any avoiding action.

The van was found parked unattended in nearby Barn Road. Enquiries led officers to Hughes who claimed someone else was driving the van at the time of the collision but two members of the public who witnessed the collision later identified Hughes as the driver.

PC David Lawrence said: “While Ashley Hughes was not to blame for the collision, he failed to stop at the scene and left passing members of the public to tend to the injured woman and call for help.

“Hughes would have known that he’d hit someone and I find it shocking and unforgivable that he simply drove off and left an elderly woman lying in the road. He also chose to get behind the wheel having never passed his full driving test and while banned from the road.

“The woman is still receiving treatment in hospital and we wish her well in her recovery.”