An Archway driver who caused a "totally avoidable" crash which killed another man has been jailed for three years.

On March 14 last year, at about 5.30am, both Mohammed Jamil Ali, of Cornwallis Square, and David Marshall, of Palmers Green, were on their way to work.

Although it was dark and raining, Ali was driving over the 30mph speed limit in his VW Golf on the way to High Road in Wood Green.

David, 57, was walking towards his bus stop, crossing the High Road, when the collision happened.

Although Ali tried to steer clear and David tried to step backwards, David was struck by Ali's car and died at the scene.

Ali stopped and called 999, testing positive for cannabis when police arrived.

When interviewed, Ali said he was driving at about 25mph and had no time to react.

He claimed never to have smoked cannabis, and suggested he might have inhaled smoke from a neighbour through a window in his sleep.

However, CCTV footage revealed Ali's car was speeding at up to 48mph, and before the collision, had undertaken vehicles in the bus lane and then swerved to overtake a bus.

Experts also cast doubt on Ali’s explanation of the cannabis in his blood.

The 24-year-old pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at the Old Bailey on December 4, and was sentenced on January 22 at the same court to three years’ imprisonment and disqualified from driving for five years and six months.

Det Con Iain Lister said: “Mr Marshal’s family have been left devastated by a totally avoidable collision that emanated from Ali’s wanton recklessness.”

David’s widow, Eileen Marshal, said: "When without warning, without notice, my husband was taken away from me forever, never to be returned, the life I knew suddenly vanished. David, who used to share my joy as well as my unhappiness, lend me his supportive hand and his shoulder to cry on, was gone.

"I have no words to describe my loss and sadness, apart from the fathomless void that engulf me.

“Amidst this devastation, there is only one thing I am quite certain – my husband’s death was avoidable. I feel this tremendous sense of unjust that David’s life was cut short in such a tragic manner and the life we shared and the future we had planned together were so cruelly, completely and utterly destroyed.”