Jason Diprose failed to tell his probation officer he was sick and was late handing over a medical certificate after missing a day of his community sentence on September 3.

He was given a seven-day curfew for the offence by Lancaster magistrates on Friday.

The 22-year-old, of Austwick Road, pleaded guilty to failing to keep in touch with his supervising officer and to provide evidence of his absence. He had been given the 12-month community order on April 9 for driving without due care and attention, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report an accident.

This followed an incident on July 17 last year when Diprose was driving a car which ran over and killed four-year-old Casey O'Callaghan outside his home in Ryelands Road.

Prosecuting on behalf of the probation service, Mr Ralph Cairns said Diprose had completed 56 hours of the 300 so far. He had been absent on nine occasions, six of which were for medical reasons .

Defending, Mr John Halewood-Dodd said Diprose had provided sick notes when necessary and had a legitimate reason for not being able to do the unpaid work.