A PIZZA delivery driver who knocked down and killed a seven-year-old boy has walked free from court.

Steven Jackman was not speeding but was going too fast in the circumstances, a judge said today (Thursday).

Mrs Justice Laing said the Jackman's view was hampered by the dark and the glare from a bus's headlights.

The 23-year-old struck Nathan Smith as he ran into the road on the High Street in Boosbeck, east Cleveland.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the youngster had escaped his mother's grip and darted into the carriageway.

Prosecutor Nick Dry told the court that the boy was thrown into the air and died instantly in November 2013.

Jackman was not insured to use the Peugeot 206 for work and was covered only for social and domestic purposes.

Mr Dry said Nathan got off a bus with his mother and five-year-old brother and "escaped her control".

He told the court: "The defendant came around a bend and was paying insufficient attention to the bus.

"Having escaped the control of his mother, and despite her desperate calls for him to stop, Nathan ran into the road.

"It is apparent that had the defendant been travelling at a more appropriate speed and paying attention to matters ahead, it might not have transpired the way it did."

Mrs Justice Laing imposed an 18-week suspended prison sentence with an electronic tag night-time curfew.

Jackman was also banned from the roads for a year after he admitted causing death while driving while uninsured.

His barrister, Graham Smith, said the part-time plasterer, of Coronation Street, Carlin How, thought he was insured.

Mr Smith added: "He has demonstrated heartfelt and genuine remorse. It is a very sad, sad case."

A letter from Jackman's mother was one of nine "eloquent" references given to the judge by Mr Smith.

He said: "He was a fun-loving, outgoing and confident young man in the lead-up to the incident, and since he has become withdrawn and isolated.

"She talks in her letter of hearing him crying at night in the months that followed the incident."

Mrs Justice Laing told him: "You are not at all to blame for the fact he ran out in front of the car, you probably didn't see him at all.

"If you had been driving more slowly, you might not have hit him, and if you had, he might well have had a better chance of survival."