A motorist who killed a cyclist and left him for dead after ploughing into him has been exposed as a convicted sex offender who was out of prison on licence at the time.

Edward Hinchliffe smashed into Simon Chester in his Toyota as the triathlete was out for a morning bike ride a friend on August 2, 2020, before fleeing the scene in the battered car, which was later seen shooting through a red light and repeatedly hitting the kerb.

The 38-year-old was rushed to hospital, but he sadly died from his head injuries a month after the crash on the A417 near Wantage in Oxfordshire, having never regained consciousness.

Former headteacher Hinchliffe was previously handed an indefinite 'life' sentence for public protection in 2008 after a decorator found a cache of indecent images in a cupboard at his home.

He had spent eight months behind bars, but has since served years more in custody due to further convictions - but was out on licence when the crash took place.

The pensioner, who accepted his driving was careless, was found guilty by a jury at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, August 31, of causing death by dangerous driving and driving dangerously after the crash.

He claimed to have panicked and kept driving after his 'fight or flight' mechanism kicked in.

Jailing him for five-and-a-half years, Judge Michael Gledhill KC said: 'Any humanity that you had evaporated and you calmly went on your way to London as if nothing had happened.

'Dreadful, dreadful behaviour. Any decent person would have immediately stopped and offered what assistance they could. You did not.'

Having struck Mr Chesher, Hinchliffe carried on his journey to Didcot despite heavy damage to his windscreen.

Other motorists said it looked like the car window had been 'shot', with one detailing how the defendant's Toyota went through a red light and repeatedly struck the kerb in Didcot.

He parked near Didcot Parkway station and got the train to Paddington, and was arrested at his friend's house in North London later that afternoon.

The driver was taken to Wood Green police station and answered no comment to questions put to him, which he said he did on the advice of his solicitor..

From the witness box, Hinchliffe asked to be allowed to say some words to demonstrate 'the sort of person I am'.

He said: 'I am deeply affected by what happened and I can't even begin to think of the upset and the grief that was caused by the accident to the family behind me,'

He did not, however, say the word 'sorry'.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by prosecutor Robert Brown after the jury's verdicts were read out, Mr Chesher's mother said the family's life had been damaged 'beyond repair' and their faith in humanity 'severely dented'.

They were 'incredibly proud' of their son and 'miss him terribly'.

Pamela Stokell, who was riding with Mr Chesher on the day of the crash, said she had felt a persistent 'sense of guilt' and as a result of the crash had developed a fear of driving.

Paying tribute to the victim, Judge Gledhill told a public gallery packed with the cyclist's family and friends: 'Mr Chesher was a decent, hardworking, family man and when he went out on this Sunday morning for a ride with his friend.

'That should have been a pleasant day, his great hobby being cycling, and it was a perfect day to go out on his bike with his friend. It ended in utter tragedy.

'I can't do anything by way of sentence to bring him back, much as I'd dearly like to assist. I can't do anything to help any of you.

'All I hope is that the trial that has just taken place and the sentence I am about to impose will close this dreadful chapter in all of your lives and you will be able to begin to move on.'

Hinchliffe, of Ormond Road, Wantage, was jailed for five years and six months, and banned from driving for seven years and nine months.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12470131/Killer-driver-left-cyclist-dying-road-convicted-sex-offender-got-prison-licence.html