A judge has effectively overruled a jury by allowing a Hendon trucker convicted of running over a prostitute to walk free from court and keep his driving licence.

Last month a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court found Govind Jeshani, 41, of Hillview Gardens, guilty of causing the death of Deborah Williams by dangerous driving. Ms Williams was a prostitute with no permanent address who based herself in King's Cross.

Jeshani, a father-of-four, claimed that Ms Williams, who was in her 30s, had entered the cab of his lorry near King's Cross on April 23 last year and offered him oral sex. He said that, when he refused, she grabbed his mileage book and jumped out. He then moved the lorry forward, inadvertently crushing her beneath its wheels.

Several eyewitnesses were horrified to see Jeshani then take the mileage book from the dying woman's hand, something he later claimed he did to avoid a right bollocking' from his boss. Prosecutors argued this act showed a chilling indifference' to Ms Williams' death.

However, when Jeshani appeared in court for sentencing on Friday (May 14), Judge Nicholas Medawar said that there were no aggravating features' in the case and granted Jeshani an absolute discharge. "Any danger or culpability on your part was so slight it was scarcely existing," said Judge Medawar. "You have been convicted in completely unusual circumstances. You were a man never convicted of any previous offences, a man of utterly good character."

The decision has outraged the English Collective of Prostitutes, which says the ruling encourages violence against its members and has called for the decision to be appealed. A spokeswoman said: "It's an horrendous outcome. This must be investigated. It's just a go-ahead for violence against prostitutes. Judges like this are the reason prostitutes so often don't report violence against them. Someone, somewhere, is missing Ms Williams and our hearts go out to them."

This week, Jeshani maintained his innocence and said the court case had left him emotionally shattered through no fault of his own.

"How am I going to rebuild my reputation? I am innocent. I'm still suffering and my family is suffering. From the first day I walked out of that police station it's like I have been in prison," he said.

Jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court saw CCTV pictures showing Ms Williams being dragged under the wheels of the seven-and-a-half tonne Ford truck.

Giving evidence, Jeshani said: "I leaned forward but I couldn't see her anywhere.

"I thought she must be on the pavement, so I tried to shut the passenger door by jerking the cab forward as I didn't want to get out in case she tried stealing something else while I was out of the cab.

"Then I heard the back wheels go up and down and I thought I had gone up the kerb, but someone told me I had run over a woman and called me a murderer, so I stopped immediately.

"I was so nervous and gutted when I saw what had happened."

Jeshani was given six points on his driving licence and was ordered to pay £500 towards prosecution costs.