A WICKHAM pensioner has been handed a suspended sentence after a motorcyclist was killed in a crash with a Landrover.

Royston Pratt, 90, of Hundred Acres, admitted causing death by driving without due care and attention after his vehicle collided with a Triumph motorbike at Staples Cross near Boarhunt in December.

The motorcyclist, Robert McQueen, 37, of Port Solent, died at the scene.

Pratt appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates Court where he was given a suspended sentence and banned from driving for five years.

Sentencing, Judge Anne Arnold said: "This was not in my opinion a case of momentary inattention, rather an outright failure to see a motor cyclist - a vulnerable road user as defined by the sentencing guidelines - whom testing has shown would have been readily identifiable albeit perhaps for a very short period of time."

Pratt was given a 16-week jail term suspended for 12 months and was also ordered to pay costs of £165.

In light of the incident, Hampshire Police are encouraging elderly drivers to sign up to the Older Drivers Forum which helps elderly people drive safely.

To find out more about the Older Drivers Forum, advice and courses, visit olderdriversforum.com.