A hit-and-run driver who ran down and killed a cyclist while chatting on his phone and ignoring one-way signs has been jailed for eight years.

Reuben Richardson, 38, accelerated and carried on driving after striking 51-year-old IT worker Antonio Marchesini, dragging the victim and his bike along the road before ditching his Mercedes and running away.

Mr Marchesini, an experienced cyclist, was wearing a high-vis jacket and was patrolling the road to try to prevent accidents when he was killed.

He died at the scene, while police quickly traced the Mercedes back to its owner, Richardson’s ex-partner. She revealed he had been driving it and phone records showed he was making a call when the crash happened, Woolwich crown court heard.

He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed on Monday for eight years.

“Your driving was appalling,” said Judge Nicholas Heathcote Williams QC. “You deliberately drove dangerously in a way that caused death. You showed complete disregard to the danger caused to others.”

The judge said Richardson’s previous convictions, including a cash-in-transit robbery, showed he has a “readiness to endanger others”.

The crash happened in daylight on June 3 last year in Rolt Street, Deptford, as Mr Marchesini carried out a safety patrol on a new cycle lane, in a road which had become one-way.

“Concerned there might be an accident, he was warning incoming drivers about the change to a one-way system,” said prosecutor Deanna Heer. “Witnesses saw the silver Mercedes driven erratically, with one calling he was acting like a ‘bloody idiot’”.

Mr Marchesini’s 80-year-old father, Luciano, told the court his Italian-born son had lived in London for 30 years and volunteered in orphanages for the Red Cross and taught foreign languages to disadvantaged teenagers.

Frida Hussain, for Richardson, said he “simply did not see the victim”.

Richardson, who had no insurance or licence at the time of the crash, stormed out of the dock when his eight-year sentence was passed.