A man who drove his car into a bus queue while high on drink and heroin, killing two women, has been jailed for eight years.

Richard Swain, 33, admitted two charges of manslaughter when he appeared at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday.

Swain changed his plea to guilty at what was supposed to be a routine directions hearing.

He admitted the manslaughter of Vera Moss, 78, and Ruth Harrison, 84, who were in a bus queue, near Tesco in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire on 2 October 2002 when Swain's car careered into the bus shelter.

Supping lager

He was jailed for eight years on each count of manslaughter, the sentences to run concurrently.

Swain, from Rossington near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, was also banned from driving for life for driving while disqualified.

The court heard he was under the influence of drink and drugs when the crash happened.

A charge of escaping from lawful custody was allowed to lie on the file.

Injected heroin

Lincoln Crown Court heard he was drinking from a can of lager when he struck the kerb outside the supermarket.

Stephen Lowne, prosecuting, said Swain had injected himself with enough heroin to kill someone not used to the drug minutes before the crash.

He set off in his Vauxhall Cavalier car with his children, aged 18 months and three years, but lost control on Trinity Street, before ploughing into the group of passengers waiting for a bus home to north Nottinghamshire.

After the crash, Swain left the scene of the accident, but was arrested soon afterwards.

He was taken to Lincoln County Hospital for treatment to his injuries but, despite a police guard, escaped through a toilet window, only to be caught again.

Judge Michael Heath told Swain, who is of no fixed address: "You were in no state to be in charge of children, still less in any way to be in charge of a car."