A driver is in custody awaiting sentence after admitting causing the death of two men by dangerous driving in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

Ashley Howard entered the pleas when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court today.

The 22-year-old also admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving to his passenger Rosie Crittenden.

He had in September admitted two charges of causing death while uninsured and two of causing death while unlicensed.

Howard was with Miss Crittenden in a Renault Clio when he gave friends Michael Shepherd, 27, and Karl Buchan, 23, both from Faversham, a lift in the early hours.

The car crashed into the Jubilee Pump historic monument in London Road, Teynham, killing dad-of-four Mr Shepherd and Mr Buchan. Miss Crittenden was seriously injured.

Gordon Ross, defending, told the court in September: “He is extremely remorseful. He accepts blame for what has happened.

“He is distraught about what happened and he is distraught for the families about what has happened.”

After the crash, Howard, of Carisbrooke Road, Newport, Isle of Wight, was kept in King’s College Hospital in London for three months.

After entering his pleas, his lawyer asked for him to be remanded in custody until sentence on December 2.

Judge Charles Macdonald QC ordered a medical report.

An interim driving ban had been imposed.