Police investigating a horror crash near Braintree which killed three men need to trace the drivers of two cars.

The crash, which happened in Braintree Road, Gosfield, at about 4.50pm on December 7, involved a blue Ford Fiesta driven by David Bradley, 30, from Braintree and a blue Volkswagen Polo driven by 21-year-old Corran Powell, from Gosfield.

Mr Bradley died at the scene and Mr Powell died eight days later in Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge after he had been placed in a medically-induced coma.

Eighteen-year-old James Simmons, of Hillside Gardens, Braintree, who was a passenger in the Polo, also died.

Specialist roads policing officers are now looking to trace two drivers who may have witnessed the crash or seen the cars involved before the crash took place.

The first driver is a man described as being aged in his 50s who was wearing glasses and driving a silver or grey Ford Mondeo on an 09 registration plate.

He would have travelled from the High Garrett direction on to Braintree Road.

He is believed to have come across the collision and spoke to another man who had been driving a Ford Focus CMax.

The second was a woman who was described as possibly being French.

She also came across the collision and spoke to another woman whom she asked to phone the police.

She had dark, bobbed hair and wore jeans and a horizontal striped top.

She was driving a people carrier and was heading in the Braintree direction.

These drivers, or anyone who knows who they are, should contact officers at the Serious Collision Investigation Unit on 101 or email collisionappeal@essex.pnn.police.uk