UPDATE BOXER Amir Khan has been banned from the road for six months.

The 20-year-old was found guilty of driving without due care and attention at Bolton Crown Court yesterday.

He had been charged with dangerous driving in relation to an incident which left a man with a broken leg.

But a jury yesterday cleared him of that charge, instead returning a guilty verdict on the lesser offence after four hours of deliberation.

The five-day hearing was told how the lightweight fighter sped along Bradshawgate and went through a red light before knocking down Geoffrey Hatton.

Khan drove his high-powered BMW 6 Series at speeds of up to 47mph before swerving round cars which had stopped for a red light and hitting the 56-year-old on a pelican crossing.

Mr Hatton suffered a broken leg and, 20 months after the crash, still uses a stick and may need further surgery.

Judge Steven Everett fined Khan £1,000 as well as imposing the six-month ban.

After the hearing, the boxer, from Lostock, made a brief statement on the court steps.

He said: "I'm glad it's over, it's been a long few days here. I always said I did not drive dangerously and it proved at court I didn't.

"I always said I was careless the way I drove and I'm sorry over what happened. I'll carry on with my training, put this behind me and get on with life."

Khan had been shopping in Bolton town centre and was driving along Bradshawgate at 4.40pm on March 2, 2006.

Police experts used CCTV to calculate his speed at up to 47mph as he approached the junction with Great Moor Street, where Mr Hatton was crossing.

The foundry worker had finished a shift at nearby Salop Street and was walking to the Balmoral pub with a friend.

Giving evidence, Khan told the court that he had not realised the lights had changed to amber as he approached and was going too fast to stop.

He described how he tried to swerve to avoid a group of pedestrians, including Mr Hatton, but said the victim moved back in to the path of his £75,000 car.

Mr Hatton told the jury of five men and seven women he panicked after hearing his friend, Bernard Aspinall, shout as the sportscar approached.

He then described lying in the road and said he though he had lost his leg.

Witnesses told the court their attention had been drawn towards Khan's car because of the speed it travelled along the road.

Judge Everett told Khan: "On March 2 you were driving a powerful car and it seems to me that you did what unfortunately so many young men and women do in a vehicle.

"Because you accelerated too hard, you put yourself in a position where you couldn't stop. You driving really did give no care for other road users at that busy time of day "I cannot neglect the fact that you went through a red light when inevitably pedestrians were in the area.

"It may be said that Geoffrey Hatton doubled back in to the path of your car but it's my judgement that his injuries were ultimately of your making.

"This has had long-lasting repercussions for Mr Hatton."

The judge said there were a number of "excellent features" of Khan's character, including his charity work.