A VAN driver who caused the death of an Atherton motorcyclist while talking on his mobile phone has been jailed for five years.

Sentencing Kevin Moran for causing death by dangerous driving, a judge warned that similar cases would mean more prison sentences.

Moran, aged 46, was chatting to his wife when he turned right illegally at Haydock Island on the East Lancashire Road into the path of biker Gary Smith, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

Mr Smith, aged 40, from Atherton, who worked in Manchester for a firm of food producers, died in hospital three hours after the collision.

The court heard that Moran, a father-of-six, of Sandy Lane, Rochdale, had been distracted by three calls on his phone and failed to see 15 "no right turn" warning signs before he turned right.

Judge Henry Globe, QC, the Recorder of Liverpool, told Moran: "A motorist has lost his life because your attention was avoidably distracted by the use of a mobile phone.

"Motor vehicles can be lethal if not driven properly and, this being so, drivers must know if as a result of their driving dangerously a person is killed, normally only a custodial sentence will be imposed.

"The use of mobile phones by drivers while moving is a much too common feature of driving today and is a self-evident risk."

Moran denied causing the death of the father-of-two by dangerous driving, but was found guilty by a jury. He was also banned from driving for five years.

The court heard that during a 10 to 15-minute journey, Moran spent a total of six minutes and 37 seconds on mobile phone calls, the first received from a colleague and two made to his wife, to whom he was still talking when the crash happened.

His employers, a firm of alarm installers, had given him the mobile phone but said it should not be used while driving.

The crash happened in November last year and Moran was convicted last month, before the new legislation banning drivers from using mobile phones came into effect.

Moran, who has two previous convictions for speeding, admitted talking to his colleague and his wife, but said he had finished speaking and the phone was on the passenger seat when he made the right-hand turn.

Trevor Parry-Jones, prosecuting, said the crash happened shortly after 7pm on Friday, November 15, last year as Moran was driving his firm's Ford Astra van.

Moran had intended to drive towards Manchester along the M6 and signs made it clear he had to turn left on to a slip road to do so. Fifteen signs on the roadway and on posts spanning 620 metres made it apparent that there was no right turn and he would have to go straight ahead to reach the A580 near Golborne.