A seaside entertainer has been cleared of killing a drunken pedestrian who walked out in front of his car as he drove home from a performance in the early hours of the morning.

Stephen Hickinbottom was found not guilty of causing the death of Gareth Toms by careless driving after experts told the jury he would have had no chance of missing him.

He was found guilty of driving dangerously by carrying on to his home after his windscreen was smashed in the accident on the A 380 near the Penn Inn roundabout in Newton Abbot. 

Judge Graham Cottle allowed him to keep his licence after saying he considered this case to be very unusual. 

A second driver who drove over Mr Toms in the road just moments after the first accident was cleared of lying about it after expert reports showed he probably did not see the body in the road and would not have known what he had hit. 

Mr Hickinbottom had always denied driving carelessly in the moments before his Chrysler car hit 30-year-old chip shop owner Gareth Toms. 

There was evidence he had used his phone around the time of the accident but explained the last call he had made on the voice activated, hands free phone in his car was when he had been stationary at the previous set of traffic lights. 

Hickinbottom, aged 53, of Danvers Road, Torquay, who performs as a comic and singer all over the south west, was acquitted of causing death by careless driving by a jury at Exeter Crown Court. 

He was found guilty of dangerous driving and fined £250 by Judge Cottle, who told him: ‘You would have been able to see very little out of the windscreen and people were potentially put at risk. 

‘The manner of your driving could not be criticised but the condition of your vehicle made it dangerous to drive. 

‘I am going to draw a line under this highly unusual case. You thought someone had thrown something at your vehicle and that was why the windscreen was smashed. 

‘You were in shock and panicking and that is why you made the decision to drive on. I find that is a special reason not to impose a disqualification. 

Engineer Anthony Keene, aged 59, of Haytor Drive, Newton Abbot, was cleared of attempting to pervert the course of justice. 

The prosecution alleged he knew he had run over a person and lied about it to a mechanic at a Kwikfit garage the next day, and later to the police. 

Mr Keene said he never saw the body in the road and believed he had hit a traffic cone. He said he drove through a flood on his way home and so was not aware of any blood or other traces on his car.  

Expert evidence showed that the lay out of the road, which was narrowed because of roadworks, and poor lighting, meant that neither driver would have had a chance of avoiding Mr Toms and it is unlikely either would have seen him.