A MAN jailed for causing a fatal crash has admitted a new offence of dangerous driving - after successfully applying to cut short his motoring ban.

Joseph Linn, 45, was given a four-year sentence at Newcastle Crown Court in September 1994, after admitting causing the death of a 35-year-old mother-of-four.

He admitted having drunk five pints of beer before taking to the wheel of his Rover car, which was involved in a collision with a Ford Fiesta, driven by Linda Cox, at Eighton Banks, Gateshead, in October 1993.

Mrs Cox, of Gainford, Chester-le-Street, died as a result of the crash, in which three of her children and her best friend's son suffered injuries.

Linn, formerly of Horden, east Durham, was also banned from driving for ten years.

He appeared at Durham Crown Court yesterday, when he admitted charges of dangerous driving and driving while disqualified, stemming from a crash in Salters Lane, Haswell, east Durham, on December 15, last year.

The driver of the other car suffered fractures to her right thigh, collar bone, left knee cap and hand, plus numerous cuts and bruises.

Ros Scott Bell, prosecuting, told the court Linn had been driving under a provisional licence after successfully applying to have the ten-year ban cut short in May 2002.

It was lifted on condition that he should apply to sit an extended driving test.

But she said he was an unaccompanied provisional driver at the time of the accident.

Adjourning sentence for the preparation of reports, Judge Richard Lowden told him: "It's a very serious matter, and custody is upper most in the court's mind."

Linn, of Dene Terrace, Shotton Colliery, County Durham, was bailed to return for sentence on May 27.