A TAXI driver who failed to stop or tell police after he knocked down a pensioner in a hit-and-run accident has been jailed for the "despicable" act.

Falak Sher drove on after hitting pensioner Robert Holden early on New Year's Day, a court heard.

He pleaded guilty failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident to police.

He was sentenced to four months in prison on each charge, to run concurrently, but will be released on licence after serving two months and also banned from driving for 18 months.

Sher was also given a 12-month conditional discharge at an earlier Burnley Crown Court hearing for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Hyndburn magistrates heard Mr Holden was knocked down outside the Poplar Working Men's Club, Wellington Street, Accrington.

He died three weeks later in Blackburn Royal Infirmary from multiple injuries.

Mr Holden, 68, a retired labourer of Royds Street, Accrington, had been celebrating at the club, where he had been a member for 20 years. The court heard that Sher, 41, of Burnley Road, Accrington, hid his Vauxhall Carlton in a garage at Nelson after the accident.

Prosecuting, David Hartley said witnesses saw Mr Holden thrown on to the bonnet before rolling off and coming to rest on the pavement. "The car slowed down but did not stop, leaving the pedestrian to his fate," he said.

Police traced the car to a lock-up garage in Hollins Lane, Nelson.

"The vehicle had been tampered with and the taxi sign and plate had been removed," added Mr Hartley. "It was clearly being kept out of sight."

Defending, Naser Ali said: "The defendant has suffered a great deal because the death was caused at his hand.

"It was purely and simply an accident. He feared violence and panicked, feeling the only way he could deal with it was to flee."

Sentencing Sher, chairman of the bench Peter Barratt said: "You knocked down a pedestrian and failed to stop, knowing he would be seriously injured. It was a despicable act."

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