THE hit-and-run driver responsible for the death of York youngster Sean Hamilton was today facing a jail sentence.

John Patrick Smith, 18, cried in court as he admitted he was driving the van that collided with Sean as the schoolboy crossed Holgate Road.

Sean, aged ten, was on the way to his home in Linnet Way, Foxwood after a visit to the cinema, when the accident happened, on October 3 last year. It prompted a city-wide hunt for the driver who drove off after the collision.

Sean, a pupil at Our Lady’s RC Primary School, was treated by paramedics at the scene, but died shortly afterwards at York Hospital.

After pleading guilty to causing Sean’s death by careless driving, failing to stop and failing to report the collision, Smith, of Carlton Caravan Site, Carlton, near Selby, sat so low in the dock of Courtroom One, he was at times out of sight.

When the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, banned him from driving, Smith gasped audibly.

He fought back tears as Judge Ashurst said he had admitted an “extremely serious offence” which carried a jail sentence.

The judge told him: “That is what is on the cards in your case.”

Smith was released on bail while probation officers prepare a report on him. He will be sentenced on September 30. He must live at his home address and co-operate with the probation service in the meantime.

The exact length of his driving ban will be set on September 30.

Members of Sean’s family were in court, but said they would wait until after Smith was sentenced before talking to the media.

At his funeral, Sean was described as a “special and cherished” boy. Teachers and pupils from his school and teammates from York Acorn Rugby League Club joined family and friends among the hundreds who packed Our Lady’s RC Church in Acomb to say goodbye to Sean and more than 1,000 joined a tribute page on Facebook.

Five men were arrested shortly after the collision, but Smith was not charged with any offence until March when he was summonsed to court to face an allegation of failure to report the accident.

He was charged with causing Sean’s death in June, ten months after it happened. Four men have been released without charge.