Ken Grant jailed for nearly two years over fatal drunk hit-and-run

The father of former NSW police minister Troy Grant has been jailed for nearly two years over the drunken hit-and-run death of a man in the NSW Hunter region.

Ken Grant mowed down talented scientist Tony Greenfield and left him for dead as he walked home from a Christmas party near Maitland in 2019.

Despite Grant trying to blame sleepwalking on the fatal crash, a judge accepted his remorse and sorrow for the crime.

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The now 72-year-old blew nearly four times the legal limit and had been at the same function as the victim on the night Mr Greenfield was killed.

Grant, a police officer himself for 31 years, responded to many fatalities like the one he caused during his career.

Today he was sentenced to a maximum of three years and 10 months, with a minimum sentence of one year and 11 months.

His son Troy Grant was incredibly emotional outside court after the sentence.

"As I've said from the start, it's not about us, it's not about Dad, it's only about the Greenfield family," he said.

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"No sentence will ever be good enough for them, be acceptable or pay tribute to the life that was taken in a reprehensible act that I still can't understand."

Mr Grant said his father's mind is "muddled" and "he has particularly deteriorated over the last few years".

"It's going to be a tough sentence obviously, but we don't dispute it," he said.

However, Mr Grant said he has "grave fears" about his father being in jail "and my sister and I will just pick up the pieces at the end".

"I can't for a second compare that to the pieces the Greenfields are picking up," he said.

The elder Grant will be 74 when he is eligible for parole.