A KILLER driver was jailed for four years yesterday for knocking down a soccer fan whose plight touched the heart of England star Kieron Dyer.

Mark Featherstone, 20, fatally injured 24-year-old George Fisher in a hit-and-run crash and then lied to police when caught.

He denied being involved in the accident, but after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice at an earlier hearing he was yesterday jailed.

The court heard of Featherstone's appalling driving record, which resulted in his licence being revoked within two years of passing his test.

Mr Fisher, of Blyth, Northumberland, had been on a night out with friends on February 23 when Featherstone smashed into him as he sped along the road because he was late to meet his girlfriend.

Featherstone then left Mr Fisher for dead in the roadside, returning home where he concocted a string of lies in a bid to keep himself out of trouble, the court heard.

As Mr Fisher lay dying in hospital, Newcastle and England star Kieron Dyer asked to see him in the hope of bringing him out of his coma.

An emotional Dyer, who had been in hospital with a football injury, crouched at his bedside and held Mr Fisher's hand as he talked quietly to him.

But the £15m-rated player's intervention could not help the young Newcastle supporter who died the following day.

Featherstone, of Stead Street, Wallsend, Newcastle, wept as the facts of the case were read in court for the first time yesterday.

Judge David Wood accepted a 9,000-name petition handed into the court by Mr Fisher's family which urged him to pass the maximum sentence of ten years.