A SPEEDING driver who mowed down and killed a top-class athlete with Olympic potential before fleeing to his native Poland has lost an appeal against his five-year jail sentence.

Lukasz Banasik was on the run for two-and-a-half years before he was finally arrested for causing the death of Gavin Hustler-Brown in April 2007.

The victim had been out for the night with friends and was crossing Bevois Valley Road, Southampton, near The Hobbit pub, in the early hours when he was knocked down.

Banasik was doing 50mph in a 30mph limit in a Vauxhall he and friends had bought for just £100 a few days earlier.

Such was the force of the impact that the Southampton Solent University student was thrown through the air and suffered serious head injuries.

Banasik, however, left him lying in the road, jumped a red light and abandoned the car in nearby Alma Road before catching a coach back to Poland.

Mr Hustler-Brown, who was described as having every opportunity to make the diving team for the 2008 games in Beijing, died within hours in hospital.

Banasik was eventually arrested in Poland for handling stolen goods and extradited back to England.

At Southampton Crown Court last March, he admitted causing death by dangerous driving as well as failing to stop after an accident, failing to report one and having no insurance or a licence.

More than 500 people attended the student’s funeral in Yorkshire where several mourners had to stand outside.

After the Southampton hearing, Gavin’s mother Christine Brown said she hoped the family could get on with their lives and not be trapped in the blackest hole.

She said: “He had his career, his diving ahead of him. He had an infectious laugh and a fun spirit. He had huge plans for the future but Mr Banasik took that away from him and us.

He left Gavin dead, he was cowardly.”

The Court of Appeal heard Banasik had never held a UK driving licence and reinforced his ban of five years with an order to take a re-test at its completion.

The judges said fleeing the country was an aggravating feature in the case, as were his lack of insurance and a licence, and failing to stop after the crash.