A NETHERTON drink driver who killed a much loved grandfather in a hit and run collision when he lost control of his car at high speed has been locked up for nine years.

Reece Dunkley, who was three times over the alcohol limit, had been banned from driving just weeks earlier - after being caught behind the wheel when he again had excess alcohol in his system.

Dunkley who had taken his girlfriend's Seat Leon car without permission mounted the pavement in Simms Lane, Netherton and ploughed into 83-year-old Stanley Shelton.

The pensioner suffered "catastrophic" injuries after being hit by 29-year-old Dunkley who then fled the scene because he was "more concerned for his own skin," said Judge Michael Chambers QC.

He told Dunkley who was driving at over 70mph when he hit the pensioner it was an "appalling" case adding, "You showed a complete disregard for the safety of other road users."

Dunkley of Kilburn Place, Netherton admitted causing the death of Mr Shelton by driving dangerously, driving while disqualified, with excess alcohol and without insurance.

Mr Paul Spratt prosecuting said Mr Shelton, who had been married to his wife Olive for 56 years, was on his way to place his usual small bet on the horses on an "ordinary day that had unimaginable consequences"

The pensioner who lived nearby was struck by Dunkley's car which then demolished a wall before careering into a parked Mercedes.

Dunkley who had been drinking heavily the night before was seen to be "staggering and stumbling" by a witness to the collision before running off to his sister's home where the police were notified.

"It was a very significant impact," Mr Spratt told Wolverhampton Crown Court. "Mr Shelton took the full force of the impact and he was catastrophically injured."

He said an off-duty police officer was also a witness to Dunkley's driving and he had seen the car which hit 74mph at the moment of the collision "snaking" on the road.

The tragedy happened on March 7 this year, said Mr Spratt, and Dunkley had been given a community order and banned from driving for two years on January 9 for an excess alcohol offence.

Miss Jabeen Akhbar defending said Dunkley was full of remorse for the accident which had left him in a state of "extreme shock" and that was the reason he had fled the scene.

She said he knew the misery he had caused Mr Shelton's family and it was something he would have to live with for the rest of his life.

He took the car out of "sheer stupidity," she told the court, adding, "He was not thinking straight at the time because of personal problems. He panicked and walked off."

Mr Spratt said the family of Mr Shelton who had worked as a foundryman had made a "heartrending" statement afterwards describing the devastation they had suffered as a result of his death.

Dunkley was further disqualified from driving for nine years by the Judge who said it was an "awful" case.