Championship footballer Luke McCormick has appeared in court charged over a motorway crash that killed two children.

Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper is charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol and driving without insurance.

He was given conditional bail and will appear next at Stoke Crown Court on June 16.

The 24-year-old was arrested on Saturday after a crash on the M6 in Staffordshire in which Arron Peak, ten, and his eight-year-old brother Ben Peak were killed and their father Phil seriously injured.

Their mother Amanda Peak, was in Stoke-on-Trent's Fenton Magistrate's Court for the brief hearing clutching a teddy bear and a framed photograph of Arron and Ben.

Earlier, she said: "No parent should have to go through the nightmare we have gone through. Phil, my husband, is not only having to come to terms with the loss of his sons but he also has to cope with the serious injuries he sustained and remains in hospital."

The family, from Partington, Manchester, have been "devastated" by the crash, she said.

Coventry-born McCormick, 24, is a former England youth international and was twice voted Argyle's young player of the season.

The fatal crash happened between junctions 15 and 16 of the motorway near Keele Services in Staffordshire.

A silver Toyota Previa people carrier left the southbound carriageway and hit trees after a collision with a black Range Rover.

The boys' father, who was driving the Previa, remains seriously ill in intensive care at University Hospital of North Staffordshire. Police said he has a suspected broken neck and back.

The three other occupants of the people carrier - a 49-year-old man and his sons, aged eight and 15 - were treated at the same hospital for minor injuries.

The six are from the Manchester area and were travelling to Silverstone, in Northamptonshire, when the crash happened, Staffordshire Police said.

McCormick's Range Rover was also travelling south when the collision took place.

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