A woman has told a court of her pain in not knowing if her unborn baby survived following a serious crash in Dorset.

It comes after Adam Goddard, 40, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by careless/inconsiderate driving and also to driving over the specified limit for a controlled drug, namely Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol - a cannabinoid identified within cannabis.

He was found to have four micrograms of the substance per litre of blood. The legal limit is two micrograms.

Weymouth Magistrates Court court heard the crash happened on the A350 in Shaftesbury at around 3pm on Thursday, May 25.

Elizabeth Valera, prosecuting, said traffic had queued behind a car waiting to turn at a junction on the A350 Grosvenor Road near the Littledown Business Park when Goddard - who says he was looking at his phone satnav on the dashboard - failed to stop and crashed into the vehicle at the back of the queue driven by Chantal Clarke.

The crash resulted in Ms Clarke, 36, who was pregnant at the time, receiving serious injuries. She was trapped in her vehicle and had to be cut out before being taken to hospital.

She has faced an 'incredibly long and challenging eight months', according to a victim statement read out in court.

She said in her statement she was 13 weeks pregnant at the time of the crash and described the wait to see if her baby survived as 'pure torture'. Her baby did survive and Ms Clarke has since given birth.

Ms Clarke has been in regular therapy since and recently became able to be in a car as a passenger without having a panic attack, but is still unable to drive herself. In her statement she thanked all those who helped her in the aftermath of the crash including emergency services.

Due to a fracture to her spine, she was in a neck brace for nine weeks. Ms Clarke has been on crutches for nine months and has been undergoing physio. The court heard she was still in pain and had difficulty walking due to damage to her ankle.

Lee Christmas, appearing for Goddard, said the defendant claimed he did not see any brake lights on the vehicle in front.

Goddard, of Linley Drive, Hastings, East Sussex, has no previous convictions.

Magistrates ordered a pre-sentence report and Goddard will next appear in Weymouth Magistrates Court for sentencing on Thursday, March 28.

In the interim, Goddard has been disqualified from driving. He was granted unconditional bail.