A driver who killed a mother-of-three on her way to collect her children from school has been spared jail.

Shelton Hoilett, 77, knocked over Charmaine Duncan, 29, in his Mercedes as she used a zebra crossing in Whitehorse Lane, Thornton Heath, on March 19 last year.

She died in hospital three days later of multiple injuries after being dragged under the car.

Miss Duncan, of Thirsk Road, South Norwood, had been walking to pick up her two eldest children from school.

Hoilett, of Selhurst Road, Selhurst, denied causing death by dangerous driving at Croydon Crown Court in February but changed his plea to guilty this morning, which was scheduled to be the first day of his trial.

Judge Jeremy Gould handed Hoilett a 12-week jail term, suspended for a year, banned him from driving for five years and ordered him to pay £1,500 costs.

Hoilett, who previously had an unblemished driving record, will have to sit an extended re-test if he wants to reapply for his licence when the ban expires.