An insomniac widower who may have ‘nodded off’ at the wheel before ploughing into and killing a pensioner as he walked home from the pub has been jailed.

Ian Whitworth was hit by Arthur Yate - who was working long hours in an attempt to pay off debt accrued by his late wife - as he made the short journey home from his local.

The 80-year-old was struck on a pedestrian crossing on Turves Road near the Ryecroft Arms in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, on January 13.

Manchester Crown Court heard Yate, who didn’t stop following the smash, was working up to 48 hours a week as a night-time shelf-stacker at Sainsburys in Cheadle.

Yate, 69, lost his wife in 2015.

Rob Hall, prosecuting, said Yate had been getting very little sleep and was merely ‘cat napping’ during the day.

The court heard Yate had been trying to pay debts of £50,000 he acquired ‘indulging’ his wife’s wish to run a card making business in the months leading up to her death.

(Image: PA)

Yate had worked from 10pm on January 12 to 6am the following morning.

The court heard he had had no sleep in the day as builders were working at the house he was staying at in Gorton.

He later went to see his daughter in Macclesfield before travelling to Offerton Green in Stockport.

The court heard Yate then set off for another shift, which he was late for.

Mr Whitworth, whose wife’s Alzheimer’s was worsening at the time of his death, had been drinking in the Ryecroft Arms when Yate ‘drove straight into him without braking’.

He was rushed to hospital, bud died of his injuries.

Yate, who was late for work, was travelling between 32mph and 40mph - in a 30mph zone - when he hit Mr Whitworth.

He did not stop at the scene and carried on to work.

The court heard Yate lied to colleagues about the route he had taken - even after being made aware of news reports about Mr Whitworth’s death.

Yate, who was traced and arrested the following day, told police he had not realised he had hit Mr Whitworth.

He said he thought damage to his car - including a smashed windscreen - had been caused by a stone.

Yate, of Larkswood Drive, Stockport, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving and failing to stop at the scene of a collision at an earlier hearing.

Mr Hall said Yate’s daughter had told him to cut back on his working hours, but ‘sadly he failed to heed that warning’.

He already had nine points on his driving licence, six for speeding offences in 2015 and 2016 and one failing to obey a traffic signal.

Adrian Farrow defending, said Yate’s fatigue was ‘not just the result of one night, but was cumulative over a period of two years’.

“He has shown, in every demonstrable way, his sincere remorse,” he added.

“Lying behind this offence is his own, entirely separate, family tragedy.

“The picture is of a man driving himself as hard as he possibly can in his life after the tragedy of his own loss.

“In doing so, he has caused the death of another man, whose life has many parallels to that of Mr Yate.

“He finds it impossible to explain why he didn’t recognise himself the enormity of what had happened. He is not a cowardly man. But it is eternally to his regret and shame.

“He needs no reminder, no deterrent. He will punish himself for the rest of his days.”

Judge Bernadette Baxter said she was unable to suspend Yate’s prison term, sentencing him to eight months behinds bars. He will serve half of his sentence on licence.

The judge said: “This is a truly tragic case of a thoroughly decent, hard-working, devoted man having had his life taken by the driving of another thoroughly decent, hard-working man, who now falls to be sentenced for his criminal carelessness.”

Judge Baxter told Yate: “It is clear from CCTV footage you simply did not see him.

“Whether that was because you nodded off, or were simply in your own world because of grief and worry, we will never know.

“You say you didn’t know you had hit a person. I do not accept you didn’t know something significant and dreadful had happened.

“It might have been that you panicked or you were not able to allow yourself to accept the gravity of what had happened.”

Yate - who is unlikely get behind the wheel again - was banned from driving for 15 years and eight months.