R-driver 'killed pair in crash'

An R-driver killed two people after his car went out of control on a bend at 60mph, a court has heard.

Mark Andrew Ellis, 20, of Josephine Avenue in Limavady denies two charges of causing death by dangerous driving, including that of his friend.

Margaret Chivers, aged in her 80s, died in the collision, and Adam Montague died in hospital 10 days later.

Antrim Crown Court heard Ellis's car ploughed into a telegraph pole, breaking it in two.

It then crashed into a Ford Ka coming in the opposite direction on the Cam Road, Macosquin, in August 2006. Both cars ended up in a ditch.

Mrs Chivers was the front seat passenger in her daughter's Ford Ka, and Mr Montague, a friend of Ellis's, was travelling in the defendant's car with another passenger.

At Monday's hearing, a prosecution lawyer said Mr Ellis had told police he had been driving at about 60mph going into a left-hand bend when he lost control.

He also told detectives that something "was not right" with the road and this had caused his car to go sideways.

However, the lawyer told the court: "We say what wasn't right was that he was driving too hard and too fast for the driving conditions." The trial continues.