THE sentencing of a 36-year-old Stroud driver who caused an elderly cyclist's death while trying to get away from the police could not go ahead because he was unwell in prison.

On Tuesday Gloucester Crown Court received a message from Hewell Prison in the West Midlands saying they had not been able to send Daryl Ackland, 36, as he was 'not feeling well' and a health care team had been sent to his cell.

Defence solicitor Steve Young said he did not believe Ackland, of Target close, Stroud, was malingering because he had always attended court and co-operated in the past and he knew that he was bound to receive a custodial sentence.

Judge Michael Cullum said if he could be certain that Ackland was wilfully absenting himself from court he would go ahead and pass sentence in his absence.

But he said he could not be sure of that so he had no alternative but to adjourn the case although he realised that would cause distress and frustration to relatives of the man who died.

The hearing was adjourned till February 16 at 2pm.

At an earlier hearing Ackland appeared via video link from the same remand prison and pleaded guilty to causing the death of Joseph Marchant, 71, by dangerous driving in Bisley Road in Stroud on October 7, 2016.

He also admitted driving without insurance. The charges stated he was driving dangerously in Bisley Old Road, Hollow Lane and Bisley road.

The court has heard that police began following Ackland's Saab car shortly before the collision because they suspected he had no insurance.

His driving was being recorded on a dashcam in the police patrol car.

But the police did not get the collision itself on camera.

Ackland has also admitted separate unrelated offences of driving under the influence of drugs on an earlier occasion.

He has admitted that on April 16 last year he drove a Vauxhall Corsa on Tredworth Road, Gloucester, with excess levels of cocaine and Benzoylecgonine in his system.

He also admitted possession of £15 worth of cocaine in three wraps in a Kinder Egg case.