THE mentally-impaired teenager who killed a pensioner by riding a motorcycle flat-out on a cycle path has been locked up for two-and-a-half years.

Judge Michael Mettyear told Adam Craig Hudson, 18, that his crime was a typical example of causing death by dangerous driving and that it deserved a much longer sentence.

But he reduced it substantially after reading a psychiatrist's report about Hudson, who has an IQ of 59.

He said the problems outlined by the doctor meant that Hudson qualified as mentally-impaired under the Mental Health Act.

Hudson, of Osbaldwick Lane, York, pleaded guilty to causing the death of 77-year-old Jack Middleton on January 30 by dangerous driving on the Sustrans cycle track from Osbaldwick to York.

He also admitted driving while disqualified.

Sentencing him, the judge said: "This case is typical of the offence of causing death by dangerous driving. It was committed by a young person, which is almost always the case, by a male - which is again almost invariably the case - and by a person who is determined to enjoy themselves without giving any thought to how his conduct might affect others.

"At the time you were banned from driving, you were on a machine which wasn't yours. You were on it without permission, you were flat out along a path set aside for cyclists and pedestrians.

"Mr Middleton was a 77-year-old retired man who was out for an afternoon walk after his Sunday lunch. You collided with him and killed him."

The judge added that he took into account that prison would be harder for Hudson because of his mental condition.

Hudson was banned from driving for five years and told to take an extended driving test.