A DRIVER who caused the death of a cyclist in Fordingbridge tried to cover it up by scrapping the van he was in and throwing away his mobile phone, a court heard.

Noah Peter Chapman, 23, hit 70-year-old Richard White on the A338 at Fordingbridge and fled the scene, leaving Mr White lying in the road.

Chapman has now been sentenced to three years behind bars at Southampton Crown Court after admitting to one count of death by careless or inconsiderate driving and two charges of perverting the course of justice.

The father-of-four was due to stand trial for the offences on Monday but changed his plea last minute to guilty. The court heard the police investigation to bring him to justice took months and two officers had to spend 96 days correlating the evidence, racking up bills of around £50,000.

Prosecuting, Mr Gabb said Chapman had been driving down the A338 Salisbury Road at Fordingbridge on April 28, at about 9.10am when his passenger side wing mirror hit 70-year-old Richard White, from Salisbury, who had been riding down the road on the way to his sister’s house.

He told the court that the van then sped off leaving Mr White on the floor, who despite wearing a helmet, suffered serious head injuries. Mr White never regained consciousness and died in hospital 22 days later on May 18.

Mr Gabb said Chapman had been traveling at between 40 and 50mph and so had at least 11 seconds, across at least 250 yards, to see the cyclist which had already been spotted by the two drivers behind him.

The court heard Chapman had said he had been in the car with his three-year-old daughter and had become distracted when she dropped her dummy and was trying to pick it up when he hit Mr White.

Prosecuting, Mr Gabb said the claim, which was only made yesterday, could not have been true because pictures from a camera on a passing bus showed the defendant was on his own.

Defending, Mr Harding said Chapman lent down to pick up his daughter’s dummy and when he hit something panicked so sped off.

He added when he asked his friends what to do he was advised to try and cover it up which he now realised was one of the worst mistakes of his life and was truly sorry for the pain caused to the victim’ family.

Judge Henry gave Chapman an 18 month sentence for causing death by careless driving and a further 18 month sentence for perverting the course of justice to run consecutively. He was also banned from driving for five and a half years.