A retired grammar school teacher had been driving illegally for more than seven years when he knocked down a pedestrian, causing a catastrophic brain injury.

John Bird had been declared medically unfit to get behind a wheel due to his deteriorating eyesight as long ago as May 2015 when he hit grandfather Keith McCann on December 10, 2022.

Canterbury Crown Court heard the 69-year-old was on his way to buy a newspaper when he turned right into the entrance of The Wheatsheaf pub in Herne Bay Road, Swalecliffe.

But Bird, who lacked peripheral vision as a result of his condition, did not see Mr McCann, an ex-rugby player and marathon runner, as he was walking across the entrance.

Having been struck by the driver's side of the car, the 75-year-old, who lived with his wife in Whitstable and had worked for Customs and Excise until his retirement, fell and hit the back of his head on the Tarmac surface.

The previously active, independent and physically fit dad-of-two suffered irreversible brain damage as well as fractures to his skull and left ankle, and was left in a vegetative state.

Living what his son described in court as being what would have been his "own worst nightmare", Mr McCann sadly died just under a year later - and one month after his hospital discharge - at the Willow Park Lodge care home in Dover.

Bird, of Glenside, Whitstable, had stopped at the time of the collision and called an ambulance for the stricken victim.

But despite his diabetes diagnosis and subsequent treatment for both glaucoma and cataracts, he later told police his visibility was "good" and could not understand why he had not seen the pedestrian.

He was originally charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving but while he awaited sentence having pleaded guilty, Mr McCann died on December 6 last year.

Bird, who spent much of his 40-year career teaching at Stockport Grammar School in Greater Manchester, was then recharged with causing death by dangerous driving, which he also admitted.

Appearing for sentence on Thursday, the court was told that the man described in testimonials as "a thoughtful man of great integrity" had "become complacent" about driving illegally.

He was, said Judge Simon James, "an accident waiting to happen".

Prosecutor Don Ramble said Bird was driving in the direction of Tankerton at about 8am on Saturday, December 10, 2022, when he stopped to turn around at the pub, intending to buy a newspaper from a nearby post office.

Having indicated to pull into the car park on his right-hand side and waited to allow oncoming traffic to pass, he then drove straight into the path of Mr McCann who by that time was almost halfway across the entrance.

Bird immediately stopped and got out to help but the victim was left "severely incapacitated", said Mr Ramble.

He spent time in King's College Hospital in London before being transferred to Ashford's William Harvey Hospital and then ultimately moved into the care home in November last year.

"There is absolutely no doubt he has died as a direct result of the head injury he sustained the year before…”

The court heard in heartbreaking victim impact statements that in that year-long period before his death, Mr McCann could not speak, move, smile, or even recognise his wife of 53 years, Susan.

"He continued to deteriorate despite regular physiotherapy and rehabilitation, and never regained capacity to care for himself," explained Mr Ramble.

Mr McCann, who was eventually moved onto an end-of-life care plan, died from what a pathologist concluded to be sepsis and head injury.

"Prior to the collision he was retired and engaged in all acts of daily living," said the prosecutor. "He did not require any assistance, was fit and healthy, and used to walk three or four miles every day.

"He was an ex-rugby player and ran marathons until the age of 65."

Referring to medical reports, Mr Ramble added: "There is absolutely no doubt he has died as a direct result of the head injury he sustained the year before."

Following his arrest at the scene of the collision, Bird revealed that despite his licence being revoked in 2015, he had continued to drive "two or three times a month".

The court heard this had included driving his then-ailing father to various medical appointments.

Checks revealed Bird had advised the DVLA in August 1994 of his diabetes diagnosis, and then in 2004 that he had developed glaucoma which was treated with eye drops.

He later had cataract surgery but although it corrected his left eye, his right eye continued to be treated with drops. Bird also required glasses for distance and was wearing them at the time of the collision.

“If he had obeyed the law and not driven his car that day, this tragic situation would never have happened…”

Due to his condition, he had been required to undergo medical reviews in respect of his licence every three years and in April 2012 was issued with a restricted period driving licence.

At the time of its renewal in April 2015, he had to attend a visual field test. However, when the results were reviewed a month later, his licence was revoked and he was informed of the decision.

Referring to Bird's police interview, Mr Ramble told the court: "He described his visibility as good.

"He said he knew his driving licence had been revoked, that he had not been contacted by DVLA to reinstate his licence, and that it was against the law to drive without a valid licence.

"Asked why he was driving when his licence was revoked, he said he did not want to answer that question and could not understand why he had not seen Mr McCann.

"He said he would have been looking in the direction of travel and nothing was blocking his view. He said he didn't see any pedestrians even as he approached the entrance to the car park."

The consequences of the collision on Mr McCann's family were detailed in three statements read to the court by the prosecutor on behalf of his widow, his daughter Abby Gore, and son Mark McCann.

Mrs McCann described how they had met while both were working in the wages department at Chatham Dockyard before becoming engaged three years later and then marrying at St Stephen's Church in the town in September 1970.

Their children were born in 1978 and 1981, and at the time of the collision their son had himself married just six weeks earlier.

The couple also had four grandchildren but, when reflecting on the day of their last wedding anniversary spent together at his hospital bedside, Mrs McCann revealed her husband "didn't have any idea" who she was.

She wrote how their life together and future plans to travel and buy property abroad had been "ripped away" by Bird's actions.

"No punishment can make up for the heartache and pain. If he had obeyed the law and not driven his car that day, this tragic situation would never have happened and I would still have my Keith," said Mrs McCann.

Ms Gore spoke about feeling "anger and hate" at losing her "rock, strength and role model" while her brother said a "man of impeccable morals" had died as a result of an ex-teacher's "selfish and reckless" behaviour.

"My dad was never a frail old man. He prided himself on being active and healthy. He was left living his own worst nightmare through no fault of his own," added Mark McCann.

The court heard that as well as spending many years teaching in the north of England, Bird had previously worked in the NHS.

Unmarried and with no children, he then moved to Kent to help look after his mother and subsequently his father.

With no previous convictions or cautions, and a clean driving record up until the collision, Bird was said to have lived a "blameless" life, teaching thousands of children and contributing positively to society.

John FitzGerald, defending, said the pensioner had shown profound and genuine remorse, and wished to convey his "shame and sorrow" to Mr McCann's family.

"This is a man who is genuinely sorry, doesn't seek to justify, and accepts responsibility for his actions," he told the court.

Referring to his client's licence revocation, Mr FitzGerald said: "Why on earth has this man, leading the lifestyle he was and contributing to society in the way he has, made the decision to drive? He can't explain, doesn't justify, and says he thinks he became complacent... He made the decision (to drive) once or twice, stupidly, and became complacent."

"You were, as they say, an accident waiting to happen…”

The court heard that although an offence of causing serious injury by dangerous driving carries a sentence of up to five years' imprisonment, the maximum penalty for causing death is a life term.

Judge James remarked however that the case against Bird had been "propelled into a very different set" of sentencing guidelines by the family's decision, albeit "wholly understandable", to withdraw medical intervention.

Furthermore, despite the collision happening in December 2022, it was not until October last year that Bird first appeared before magistrates facing the less serious charge.

But Judge James said that although there had never been any intent that morning to cause harm, a "much-loved" Mr McCann had suffered catastrophic consequences from the defendant's "deliberate and selfish" decision to get behind the wheel of his car.

The judge told Bird: "His death was an undeniable tragedy and although you obviously didn't go out intent on causing such grief and loss, you had been regularly driving without a valid licence since 2015.

"You were, as they say, an accident waiting to happen and the catastrophic consequences of your deliberate and selfish decision to continue to drive when you had been informed you were unfit to do so safely, means that this offence cannot be properly described as a momentary lapse of judgement but must be considered not simply to be foreseeable but the almost inevitable consequence of a quite deliberate course of conduct."

On jailing Bird for three years, Judge James said the offence was "too serious" to justify anything other than immediate imprisonment, despite what had been his "lifetime of selfless service" to others.

"Whilst it gives me no pleasure to send a man like you to prison, there is in my judgment a need to ensure that people are aware that if they make a conscious decision to ignore the law and tragic consequences result, that the consequences will be dire," he explained.

"In my judgment, the necessity for a deterrent sentence must regrettably outweigh the individual mitigation, however compelling in a case such as this."

Judge James also acknowledged that the sentence was "unlikely to be considered anything approaching long enough to come close to compensating for the loss of a husband, father and grandfather".

Bird was handed a driving ban until further order.