Trainee Pakistan Merchant Navy Officer Sajjad Munawar was found not guilty by a jury at Preston Crown Court of causing death by dangerous driving.

The re-trial was ordered by the Court of Appeal who quashed the original conviction on a legal point.

Munawar, 28, of Deepdale Road, Deepdale, had been convicted following a trial last year.

In July he was sentenced to 18 months for causing the death of 61-year-old Michael Parker by driving dangerously on Preston New Road, Mellor Brook.

He was released from prison early in the New Year and the re-trial resulted in the not guilty verdict after the jury had deliberated for three-and-a-half hours.

The jury convicted Munawar of careless driving and judge Pamela Badley sentenced him to a conditional discharge for 12 months.

His barrister, Richard Clews told the judge "he has spent six months in prison in respect of an offence he has now been acquitted of."

Tragically Mr Parker was watching the recovery of a BMW car from a garden near to his home when knocked down by Munawar's 1.4 Astra who was overtaking on the inside.

Munawar, who was living in Preston while taking a merchant Navy's Officer's course, told the jury he could not overtake the recovery vehicle on the outside because of oncoming traffic and believed it was safe to go on the inside.

He said he braked but could not avoid the collision.

Mr Parker died at the scene of the accident shortly before dawn on a morning in November of 2006.

As police investigated who had been driving the BMW which had left the road and ended up in a garden, a man later claimed to have been behind the wheel.

However, in a bizarre twist he has since pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and police now believe the real driver has fled the country.

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