Muslim peer Lord Ahmed has admitted sending and receiving text messages while driving on a motorway just before he was involved in a crash in which a man died.

The 51-year-old appeared at Sheffield Magistrates' Court where he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on the M1 near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Christmas Day last year.

Slovakian Martyn Gombar, 28, who was living at the time in Leigh, Lancashire, died when Lord Ahmed's Jaguar was in collision with an Audi car, which had stopped in the fast lane of the motorway.

The peer suffered injuries to his face and shock in the incident on December 25.

Lord Ahmed admitted a charge of dangerous driving on the southbound carriageway of the M1, between junctions 40 and 35.

The court heard how he sent and received a series of five text messages while driving in the dark at speeds of, and above, 60mph along a 17-mile stretch of the motorway.

He was handed an interim driving ban until his sentencing on December 22.

Speaking outside the court, Lord Ahmed's solicitor Steve Smith said his client was not to blame for Mr Gombar's death.

"It clearly shows now that he was not responsible for the death of that unfortunate man," Mr Smith said.

"Whilst it is not his responsibility, it is not his fault, he still bears the death of this man at the forefront of his mind."