A VAN driver has been jailed for nine years and four months for causing the deaths of two young children in a crash on the M4.

Jayden-Lee Lucas and Gracie-Ann Wheaton had been travelling home with their parents from a birthday party on the afternoon of February 5 when the family stopped on the hard shoulder because Gracie-Ann felt unwell.

Then, "suddenly and without warning", Martin Newman's white Ford Transit collided with their car, causing the children "catastrophic" injuries.

They were rushed to hospital, but Gracie-Ann, age four, died the next day and Jayden-Lee, aged three, died the following Friday.

Newman, from Croeserw in the Neath Port Talbot area, pleaded guilty at a previous court appearance to causing the deaths by dangerous driving of the two children.

He also admitted previously a charge of seriously injuring their mother in the crash, which happened between near Junction 28 of the M4.

Today (Friday) at Cardiff Crown Court, 41-year-old Newman admitted further charges of drink- and drug-driving.

The court heard blood samples showed the van driver had exceeded the legal limit for alcohol and also had traces of cocaine in his system.

Judge Daniel Williams told he could pass the maximum sentence possible for Newman's offending.

More follows.