Robert Webber was given a nine month sentence at Newcastle Crown Court after pleading guilty to robbery at the Gate cinema complex in Newcastle.

Webber said in a separate incident that he and a friend had been in a speeding car which hit Jimmy Mulligan.

The two escaped prosecution because each named the other as the driver.

The 73-year-old pensioner died when the car mounted a pavement in High Heworth as he waited at a bus stop.

Webber, who also goes under the name of McKegney, pleaded guilty to robbery at the Gate complex in the city last November.