A MAN has admitted causing the deaths of a married couple from Blandford in a crash earlier this year.

Jamie Myers, of Watery Lane in Donhead St Mary, near Shaftesbury, appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday morning to admit two counts of causing death by driving without due care and consideration while over the specified drug drive limit.

The charges relate to the death of 74-year-old Sid Samways and his wife Barbara, 71.

Mr and Mrs Samways were on a black Kawasaki motorcycle which was involved in a collision with Myers' green Ford Escort on the Shaftesbury Road near Compton Abbas.

Emergency services were called to the stretch at 3.40pm on Sunday, April 2.

Mr Samways was pronounced dead at the scene. Mrs Samways, who was riding pillion, was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital with serious injuries.

She also later died.

When police carried out tests, it was discovered Myers had 211 micrograms of benzoylecgonine - the main metabolite of cocaine - per litre of blood.

The legal limit for the substance is 50.

Myers, 24, will return to the court to be sentenced in January. The case was adjourned to allow a psychiatric report and a pre-sentence report to be prepared.