A motorist was distracted by a text message exchange with his girlfriend when he hit two young women head-on and killed them, a jury has heard.

Shelby Maher, 17, and Rachel Murphy, 23, were said to be "clearly visible" as they crossed the middle of the road in Preston, but Mohmed Salman Patel, 26, was allegedly "more interested" in his mobile phone and failed to see them.

Miss Murphy was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision with the defendant's BMW 3 Series, on the A59 Brockholes Brow in the early evening of April 20 2016, while Miss Maher died in hospital.

Another teenage girl in the group of five friends crossing the road was seriously injured and was in hospital for a week.

The defendant's phone was seized and examined after emergency services arrived following his 999 call from the scene, Preston Crown Court heard.

Francis McEntee, prosecuting, said the police investigation of the phone revealed he sent two text messages to his girlfriend at 6.12pm on April 20 asking her whereabouts.

At 6.37pm she replied "yeah at mate's" to which he swifly responded: "Her house?"

Within 42 seconds of sending that message he had killed the pair, and next used his mobile to ring the emergency services, the court heard.

Mr McEntee said: "The defendant did not brake or swerve as he drove his car. We say the pedestrians were clearly visible in the middle of the road.

"The reason that he did not see them in broad daylight was he was more interested in his mobile phone than the road ahead.

"We will invite you to conclude that the only sensible answer as to why the defendant did not see anyone in the road when they were clearly visible was he was more interested in finding out what was the answer to his question."

The prosecutor told jurors they would hear evidence from other drivers who saw the group "dawdling somewhat" in the road as they approached up the hill into the city centre.

He said that when interviewed by police the defendant said his final text message was sent while his vehicle was stationary at traffic lights "well before" the collision took place.

Mr McEntee said the prosecution understood from his defence statement that Patel was now saying the message was sent at a different set of lights nearer the scene.

He said: "We say he has literally moved the position in the realisation that his story does not stack up."

Patel has entered pleas to causing death by careless driving but the Crown says the manner of his driving in the outside second lane was dangerous and fell far below the standard of a careful and competent driver.

Patel, of Carham Road, Blackburn, denies two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

The trial, expected to last up to seven days, continues on Tuesday.