A frail old man who covered for a killer by lying to the police has avoided jail after a judge decided he was too ill for prison.

Vehicle hire supervisor Abbas Khan, 61, protected customer Terrell Thuesday, who had mown down a delivery driver with his own van during a bungled theft.

Father of three Charles Bunyasi, 49, from Mitcham, was killed by Thuesday while delivering flowers in Coulsdon in June this year.

The Sutton Council parks worker had been working part-time as a delivery man to support his children - the youngest of whom suffers from Leukaemia.

He had left his van to make a quick delivery, leaving the keys in the ignition of his white Ford Transit and the engine running.

Thuesday as he drove past, abandoned his own rented van - hired from Khan’s company Best Hire - to steal Mr Bunyasi's van.

He knocked down and killed Bunyasi as he made his escape.

Khan, from Lambourne Road, Ilford, lied to officers the day after Mr Bunyasi was killed by telling them the keys to Thuesday’s rented van had already been returned to the company as the vehicle had broken down..

He then contacted David Browne, a freelance vehicle removal man he knew, and introduced him to Thuesday so they could retrieve the van, which was trapped behind the police cordon at the scene.

Browne, from Fulham Road, Fulham, continued the lie to police at the cordon in an attempt to free the van.

The 47-year-old, who has also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, is due to be sentenced at the same court on November 2.

Judge Warwick McKinnon, sentencing, told Khan he would not be going to prison because he was too ill.

His health had deteriorated after he was stabbed repeatedly in 2001 for helping police by giving evidence at a drugs trial.

McKinnon said he would also not be jailed becasue he helped at the drugs trial and had no previous convictions.

He said: “Any attempt to pervert the course of justice is an extremely serious matter, and particularly so given the background of this case.

“One only needs to look at what happened to Terrell Thuesday to realise that.

“Your position, however, is quite different from Thuesday - you haven’t killed anyone.

“You were prevailed upon to engage in this deceit by Terrell Thuesday and you foolishly agreed to do it.”

Khan was sentenced to a 12 month jail term, suspended for two years, and ordered that he live and sleep at his home address for the next six months.

The 61-year-old cut a frail figure as he was helped shuffling into the dock at Croydon Crown Court this morning, at one point needed to be fed water by a security guard as details of his crime were read out.

Thuesday, from Redsan Close, Croydon was jailed for six years in September for causing death by dangerous driving, and 12 months consecutively for attempting to pervert the course of justice.