A hit-and-run driver whose car killed a nine-year-old boy could be deported to his home country by Christmas, the Home Office has said.

Kamel Kadri is expected to serve half of his 22-month sentence for motoring offences, having a fake passport and assault.

Kadri drove away after knocking down Callum "CJ" Oakford on January 1 this year, an incident a coroner this week ruled was a tragic accident.

A Home Office spokesman said arrangements were being made to deport Algerian-born Kadri as soon as he was released.

It was expected Kadri would walk free after just 11 months, meaning he would be out in mid-December.

He said: "He's still serving time in prison and will then be taken straight to a safe house before being deported.

"There is an early release scheme, involving tags and home detention, for foreign nationals which he could be eligible for.

"But for a 22-month sentence, it is most likely he would serve 11 months."

Kadri, 38, was originally jailed for eight months at Chichester Crown Court last January for failing to stop after an accident and other motoring offences. His Renault 5 collided with CJ as the boy tried to cross the A259 at Ferring.

CJ, along with older brother Sam, now 13, and his 12-year-old friend Dominic Davies, had been on their way home from playing at Highdown Hill, Worthing.

A legal technicality meant Judge Anthony Thorpe had to cut the prison term by two months.

CJ's family has since been campaigning for hit-and-run drivers and those lacking proper insurance and licences to be given stiffer punishments.

The judge also jailed Kadri for 16 months for using a fake passport to trick his way into England and get a cleaning job at Worthing Hospital.

He failed in an application for asylum in September 2002.

In March Kadri was also ordered to serve three months concurrently for common assault on a 27-year-old woman whom he grabbed when she refused to kiss him.