Man jailed for cowardly bike hit and run

When Bradley Spark was asked how he knew a Victorian grandfather had died in a crash, he said he heard about it on the radio. 

But he was lying. 

Spark had earlier left David Thomson, 60, for dead on the road after crashing into his bike.

Failing to stop and help Mr Thomson was a despicable and cowardly act Judge Peter Lauritsen said, as he jailed Spark, 40, for a minimum of five years on Friday.

"Leaving Mr Thomson on the roadway, unattended, causes so much anguish to his family and friends," he told the County Court in Melbourne.

The judge said the words of Mr Thomson's widow, Ann Bridgewater, reflected the impact of Spark's actions.

"To the person who killed my husband, if you had stopped to try and help David I think one day I could maybe forgive you," she told the court in a statement.

"But you didn't stop, you left him on the road like he was nothing. Nothing to you, the world to me."

Mr Thomson died on October 21 last year, while riding his bicycle to work in Ballarat.

He was waiting to turn onto La Trobe Street, in Delacombe, when Spark crossed over to the wrong side of the road and hit the front of Mr Thomson's bike with his Mitsubishi sedan.

Mr Thomson died at the scene from his serious injuries after he was flung about 21 metres into the air during the crash. 

His friends recalled driving past the scene, not knowing it was their mate.

Spark fled and sped home after the crash, with police finding his car abandoned inside a paddock six days later, underneath a tarpaulin.

The sedan had been modified to look different, with its registration plates, windscreen, bonnet and spoiler removed. 

Spark was not involved in moving the vehicle and did not modify it himself, the court heard.

He was arrested on October 28 but declined to answer any questions. 

When he was shown CCTV footage, Spark fed police a fake story about the vehicle being stolen after he abandoned it due to a flat battery. 

He said the first he heard of the crash was on the radio.

"Plainly, this version is nonsense," Judge Lauritsen said. 

"It cannot be said that you co-operated with police in their investigation, you did the opposite."

Spark, who had a suspended licence and was driving an unregistered vehicle at the time of the crash, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death, failing to stop and failing to render assistance.

Judge Lauritsen sentenced Spark to seven-and-a-half years in prison and he must serve at least five years before he can become eligible for parole. 

He has already served more than a year.