A newsagent who knocked down and killed a fellow paper shop owner while speeding through heavy rain at almost 50mph was today beginning a five-year jail sentence.

Zahid Hussain, 54, fled after the “catastrophic” accident, which killed married father-of-six Mushraf Surti, and arranged for his silver Mercedes to be repaired to hide the damage.

Mr Surti had been delivering newspapers on Broadway West, near to his Surti News shop, just before 6am.

Hussain had been on his way to work at Asif News in High Street, Brierley Hill. Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday that there was heavy surface water and visibility was poor when Hussain’s C180 hit the 51-year-old victim on March 10, 2008. Mr Mark Rees, prosecuting, said: “The defendant then drove off, leaving him in the gutter some 52 metres from the point of impact.”

Police, who estimated the speed at impact to be 49mph, said the driving was “wholly inappropriate for the weather conditions”, the court heard.

Hussain said: “I had no time to react. I stopped and saw the body but I was terrified.” Police recovered CCTV of the damaged Mercedes driving away from the scene. They found there were 200 similar vehicles in the WS postcode area and Hussain’s name was top of the list. He told officers it had been vandalised. Hussain, of Broadway, Caldmore, admitted causing death by dangerous driving, perverting the course of justice, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report it.

In a letter to the court, he said: “I’ve behaved in a cowardly way. I can’t believe I acted in such a disgusting way – when a man lay dead in the road I just drove away. I don’t deserve leniency.”

Judge Michael Challinor, who also banned Hussain from driving for seven years, said: “Instead of trying to help him, you fled the scene.”

Mahfooza Surti, Mr Surti’s daughter, said afterwards: “On behalf of the family we would like to say a big thank you to Pc Mark Keenan for all his help and support.”