A motorist has been banned from driving for a year and ordered to carry out community service having admitted killing a pedestrian after driving carelessly in Hampstead.

Mohammed Rashid, 23, of Weedington Road, Queen’s Crescent, was sentenced to 140 hours unpaid work and ordered to pay £500 in prosecution costs, in addition to the driving ban, at Blackfriars Crown Court last Wednesday.

Rashid pleaded guilty to causing the death of 32-year-old journalist Laurence Gunn by careless driving at a hearing in October.

He was found not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

Mr Gunn, of Shirland Road, Maida Vale, was struck by Rashid’s Ford Focus in East Heath Road, near to the junction with Downshire Hill, on March 3 last year at about 7pm.

He suffered major head injuries in the crash and died a day later at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington.