A PRIEST has slammed a hit-and-run driver as "inhuman" for leaving Oswaldtwistle barman Shaun Metcalfe to die by the roadside.

The 34-year-old was hit by a car outside the town's Hare and Hounds pub on Blackburn Road around three weeks ago. The driver failed to stop and is yet to be caught by police.

Speaking at his funeral on Monday, Father Patrick Bourke told mourners: "The tragedy is harder to come to terms with when the driver didn't have the human nature to return to the scene of the accident."

He was addressing Shaun's devastated family - including his mum Jennifer, brother Mark, sister Christine and his cousins, nephews and nieces - at the service in St Mary's RC Church, Oswaldtwistle.

Around 300 mourners packed into the Catlow Hall Street church to remember Shaun, who had worked part-time at the Hare and Hounds for 10 years, and to sign a book of condolence.

His distraught mum wept throughout the Requiem Mass and had to be comforted by other family members. The funeral of her husband Reg took place at the same church around three years ago.

Shaun, whose day job was as a polisher and foreman at Baron Mercer's wood machinists in Accrington, lived with his mum and brother in Ruskin Avenue, Oswaldtwistle.

He was on his way home from a night out at the Hare and Hounds with pal Mick Ashby when tragedy struck.

Witnesses said that after the accident, the car - believed to be a red saloon - stopped and started to reverse but then sped off. Paramedics were unable to save Shaun.

Passing on his condolences to Shaun's family, Mr Bourke said: "It is not the task of a mother to bury her son, it should be the other way around."

"But we should not dwell on the darkness and concentrate on the light Shaun brought into people's lives. His memory will live on with his mother, brother and sister and all who loved and knew him."

Staff at the Hare and Hounds sent bouquet with the words Darts and Dominoes written on it. Friends also donated flowers in the shape of a pint of beer and there were countless messages of condolence.

Afterwards, Shaun was taken to Church and Clayton-le-Moors Cemetery for burial.