A drug-fuelled dangerous driver who killed a teenage girl as she walked to school tried to blame the child.
Kevin Pryce, 45, who tested positive for cocaine and cannabis, claimed 14-year-old Mia Strothers had stepped out into the road before he hit her.
But Pryce was 'absolutely flying' while driving at 57mph in a 30mph zone, and was in a BMW which he knew had faulty brakes.
Pryce drove off, leaving Mia with injuries which would prove fatal.
After the crash, he told a friend that his windscreen was damaged because someone had thrown a 'brick' at it, then made enquiries with a garage about getting it fixed.
Pryce later handed himself in, but even when he appeared in court and pleaded guilty he claimed he wasn't driving as fast as he had been when he hit Mia.
Now Pryce, who has never had a licence, has been jailed for 10 years and banned from driving for life.
Mia's father Daniel movingly addressed a packed court room to tell of the devastation his family is experiencing.
Mr Strothers said the fact the incident was 'totally avoidable... makes it impossible to accept and move on'.
Manchester Crown Court heard how Mia, a pupil at North Manchester Academy, was on her way to school at about 8.15am on Monday, October 5.
She was crossing the road on Lightbowne Road in Moston when Pryce, driving a silver BMW, hit Mia which caused her to be thrown her into the air.
A witness said Pryce was 'absolutely flying', and said he didn't appear to brake or swerve before leaving the scene.
"There was no way you could have failed to appreciate that you had hit a pedestrian," Judge Hilary Manley told Pryce.
The judge said his decision to flee and leave Mia seriously injured was 'unforgivable'. She died two days later.
Shortly after the crash, Pryce told a friend that the damage on his windscreen had been caused by a 'brick' being thrown at his car.
He went to a garage to enquire about getting it repaired.
About two hours after the crash, he waved down a police officer and told them: "About what happened this morning, the girl was looking the other way, and I have had a problem with my brakes."
Saying he was 'really sorry', Pryce added: "If she (Mia) had been looking the other way I would have been able to swerve around her."
Pryce tested positive for cocaine and cannabis, and claimed he had taken them since the incident.
Tests conducted by police revealed the BMW's brakes were defective.
But two weeks earlier Pryce had been to a garage to enquire about the price of work to repair them, but no work was undertaken.
A police investigation revealed that Pryce would have been able to stop even with defective brakes, if he was travelling at 30mph.
"There was no reason for the defendant not to be able to see Mia as she was in the road," prosecutor Mark Kellet said.
Judge Manley said no sentence could 'begin to mitigate' the loss of Mia.
The maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving is 14 years.
The judge said she accepted Pryce had shown 'some remorse', but said his claims that he had not been driving at 57mph added to the distress of Mia's family.
She therefore reduced the amount of credit he received due to his guilty plea.
Pryce was also told he was banned from driving for life, with the judge saying it was an 'exceptional' case.
Pryce, of Quail Street, Oldham, admitted causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving without a licence and driving with no insurance.
