A MOTORCYCLIST was jailed for three years today for knocking down and killing a three-year-old girl in a Hampshire village.

Stephen Moon pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving after he raced down a 30mph stretch of Hamble Lane in Bursledon at nearly 50mph.

He hit little Billie King, who lived nearby, at 49mph as she crossed the road with her family from behind a queue of cars, at 7pm on March 1.

The toddler died at the scene, near the Tall Ship fish and chip shop.

Moon, 38, of Sopwith Road, Eastleigh, was handed a three-year jail sentence by Judge Guy Boney QC and banned from driving for three years.

He delivered the sentence at Winchester Crown Court in front of the girl's devastated parents.

Judge Boney said there were “no honeyed words” that could conceal the fact that Moon was driving at “not far short of 50mph” past a line of traffic on a dark, busy street.