An Edgware man who killed a 76-year-old woman in a hit-and-run accident last August has been jailed for three years.

Trainee bookmaker Mohamad Shirazi, 23, tried to escape after ramming a Nissan Micra at a red light in Hendon Way at the junction with The Vale, Golders Green.

The impact broke the back of Uma Lewis-Weare of Granville Road, Childs Hill, who was the Micra's front seat passenger. She later died at the Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead.

Her husband Courtney was in the car but was not hurt in the crash. On Friday he said in a statement that he was devastated at the length of the sentence.

"This man Shirazi, who killed my wife through irresponsibility and negligence, has robbed my two daughters, a son and myself of a mother and a wife. Three years is inadequate and I feel devastated he got off so lightly. The sentence will not bring Uma back but he has the rest of his life to live, whilst I have been robbed of my partner forever," he said.

Shirazi, of Buckingham Gardens, fled the scene and dumped his Mercedes in nearby Cloister Gardens. He was picked up by a friend in a Suzuki Swift car.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police's specialist collision unit, who examined the Mercedes, said it had the worst brakes they had ever seen and that the only brake that even partially worked was the handbrake.

Shirazi might have disappeared without trace if a woman who had witnessed the crash from her car had not followed him and watched his attempt to cover his tracks.

He gave himself up at Colindale police station last November and was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and driving without insurance in December. The owner of the getaway Suzuki was fined for obstructing police.

Shirazi was also disqualified from driving for five years last Friday at Harrow Crown Court.

The other passenger in the car — an elderly lady — suffered a broken pelvis in the smash and is still receiving treatment. The group had been visiting friends to finalise arrangements for a wedding they were due to attend.

-By Times Group reporters