A driver narrowly escaped a prison sentence after a judge ruled there were "exceptional circumstances" in a road accident in which a woman pedestrian was killed.

Kathryn O'Shea, 43, was working as a prostitute in Handel Street, Bradford, when she was hit by a lamppost which was knocked down by an out-of-control car in September last year.

The car driver, Pinu Khan, pictured, was found guilty of causing her death by careless driving after a trial at Bradford last month. When he was breathalysed by police he was found to be slightly over the drink-drive limit.

Yesterday, Khan, a baker, of Queens Road, Manningham, received a two-year sentence suspended for 12 months when he appeared at Leeds Crown Court.

Sentencing him, Judge Peter Benson said: "When a life is taken by someone who has taken drink and is over the limit, even in circumstances such as this, it seems to me that a sentence of imprisonment is inevitable."

But he added there were exceptional circumstances in Khan's case which allowed him to suspend the sentence.

He said the fact that Khan, 51, was only a small degree over the legal drink-drive prescribed limit, that he drove not thinking that what he had consumed would put him over the limit, that he was taken by surprise by someone in the roadway, that he was ill and the nature of the accident were all taken into consideration as exceptional.

"The unfortunate death of this lady was not caused by the direct impact of your vehicle upon her," said Judge Benson.

"You struck the lamppost which was designed to buckle under the impact and it did fall and by freakish mischance it fell across the junction and struck Miss O'Shea. I find that a wholly exceptional circumstance."

He also said Khan had shown genuine remorse and shame for what had happened.

"These factors in combination allow me to take the highly unusual step in this case of suspending imprisonment," said Judge Benson.

"I hope the family of Miss O'Shea will understand that and not think the court does not understand the depth of their sorrow and their sense of pain."

Khan was also disqualified for driving for two years and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £1,549.

In mitigation, Giles Bridge said Khan had drunk a limit of alcohol only marginally over the prescribed limit and was a man of previous good character with family responsibilities. He said Khan also suffered from diabetes and heart problems and had had depression since the accident.

But speaking after the case, Miss O'Shea's son Dean Krol, 26, said he was disappointed by the sentence.

"He was found guilty in a court by a jury but this judge as good as overturned that by letting him off. I don't understand how any of this is fair. I wanted him to be punished - whether it was three months or three years in prison - to go through what we have over the past 12 months.

"We are devastated and I have no mother. It's been almost a year but I still can't grasp that I'm never going to see her again."

Miss O'Shea's sister Sheena Walker added: "Last time he was in court, they said he would go down. They didn't say he would get away with it."