Drink driver Jason Huxtable admits killing two friends in fireball crash near Bratton Fleming

Driver Jason Huxtable has admitted killing two friends in a horrific fireball crash when he was almost two times over the drink drive limit.

He has been warned he faces a jail sentence after a judge heard he had been disqualified from driving for an earlier drink driving offence just three months before the tragic crash.

Young mother Emma Kift, 21, and Johnny Popple, 23, were both killed when Huxtable crashed off the Bratton Fleming to Snapper road in June last year.

His Rover car toppled down a steep bank and the two passengers died after it burst into flames.

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Block paving fitter Huxtable, 22, of Parsonage Farm, Bratton Fleming, admitted causing the death of Emma Kift and Johnny Popple by careless driving while over the drink drive limit.

The prosecution dropped a second allegation of causing death while driving while disqualified because they said the facts formed part of the background to the offences he has admitted.

Huxtable was banned from driving for 18 months by magistrates in Barnstaple on March 1, 2012, after he admitted having 81 microgrammes of alcohol against a limit of 35 when driving home from a friend's funeral. He had drunk ten pints of lager before getting into his car in the Queen Street car park in Barnstaple.

Judge Francis Gilbert adjourned the case for pre sentence reports and released Huxtable on bail but warned him to expect jail.

He said: "His record shows he was disqualified for drink driving three months to the day before this accident. A sentence of some length is inevitable. This was a very serious criminal act on his part."

Richard Crabb, prosecuting, said: "His pleas are acceptable. He accepts he was disqualified at the material time and that will be an aggravating feature of the offences he has admitted."

Lee Bremridge, defending, asked for Huxtable to be bailed pending sentence "as an act of mercy".

He said: "A report will assist. He is still relatively young and the only relevant conviction is for the drink driving offence. He is a hard working man who is employed by a block paving company. He would appreciate time to get his affairs in order. He owns a house and has a girlfriend he has been with for three years."

Emma Kift and Johnny Popple, who both lived in Bratton Fleming, died in the crash on June 1 last year after Huxtable's Rover rolled into a field and caught light.

The road between Bratton Cross and Snapper was closed for several hours by police as they investigated the crash, which happened in the early hours of the morning.

After the accident tributes were paid to both victim, with Emma described as a devoted mother.

A family statement released through the police said: "Emma was a devoted mother and very special daughter, and sister, who will be sorely missed by everyone in her extended family and extensive network of friends. She enjoyed life to the full and her proudest achievement was her son."