A MAN has been found not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after a crash on Merseyside.

Owen Broughton, 21, of Queens Drive, Stoneycroft, had been accused of chasing driver Michael Chaderton, 23, and passenger Samuel Dunne, 24, to their deaths after a fight under Wango Lane Bridge, Litherland, on July 17 last year.

But a jury at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday took just under seven hours to deliver not guilty verdicts on two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Family members of the dead men sobbed in court as the verdicts were announced.

Judge John Roberts thanked the families of all the men involved for their calm throughout the trial.

He waited 10 minutes before discharging Mr Broughton, to allow the court to be cleared.

Prosecutors had alleged the two dead men, and passenger Carl Cunningham, 19, a boxer who survived the crash, had been chased for 2½miles at high speeds after a they picked him up from a pre-arranged fight with a love rival, Neill Philips, a friend of Mr Broughton.