The driver of a coach which crashed killing 27 - including a Brightlingsea couple - has admitted causing the deaths.

John and Marian Clifford died when the tour bus they were in plunged down a mountain in South Africa's treacherous Long Tom Pass in September 1999.

The 63-year-old company director and his 61-year-old housewife, of Red Barn Road, who died of multiple injuries, were on holiday when the tragedy happened.

Driver Titus Dube has now admitted a charge of culpable homicide in connection with the crash, according to the chief prosecutor's office in Nelspruit.

The 41-year-old, who blamed faulty brakes for the crash, which also killed two people from Purfleet in south Essex, could be jailed for up to ten years when he is sentenced next month.

The father-of-five made the plea when his lawyers met prosecutors, a spokesman for the chief prosecutor said.

"The case was not heard in open court because of the difficulty of recalling witnesses from the UK," the spokesman said.

"Given his guilty plea, Dube was convicted. He will appear in the Lydenburg Regional Court on April 2 for testimony in mitigation and then for sentencing."

The British tourists, most of whom were elderly, died with their South African guide when the Springbok Atlas coach careered off a mountain road.

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