A hit-and-run driver who tried to cover his tracks after killing a pensioner was traced by blood he left behind at the scene.

Mark Gillibrand , 27, went through a pedestrian crossing at 60mph in a high-performance Audi S3 with no wing-mirrors on it.

Kevin Bates, 69, of Lockton Court, Chorlton-on-Medlock, was crossing Downing Street, Ardwick when he was hit.

He was hurled 30ft into the air and landed 60ft from the crash site. Gillibrand then sped onto Mancunian Way before dumping the car in Hulme, where he tried to destroy evidence by wiping the car down.

But he failed to mop up all the blood from cuts from the crash and was caught after nine months on the run.

Alexander Leech, prosecuting, told the court the roar of the car and the speed it was travelling left other pedestrians ‘panic stricken’ on January 20 last year.

But while they managed to get to safety, Mr Bates ambled across the road, ‘seemingly oblivious to the rapid approach of the Audi’.

Gillibrand was later seen abandoning the car at a residents’ car park in Hulme. The vehicle belonged to Gillibrand’s friend.

Gillibrand, of Hyde Road, Belle Vue, was jailed for four years.

Imran Shafi, defending, said his client, who later admitting causing death by dangerous driving, felt ‘utter horror’ at his actions.

But Judge Anthony Gee QC said he found it ‘difficult’ to accept Gillibrand’s remorse ‘when he kept his head down for nine months and then, when he was arrested, continued to deny involvement in the incident’.

Gillibrand was also banned from driving for six years.

He has a string of motoring offences including drug and drink-driving convictions.