There were tears and applause in court yesterday as a young driver was told he faces a substantial prison sentence for his part in the deaths of three teenage girls.

The trio of friends were all back-seat passengers in a Ford Fiesta which crashed into an on-coming flat-back lorry as when its driver James Houston was racing another hatchback car.

The horrific collision in September 2006 claimed the lives of 16-year-old Ursula Alokolaro, of Heckmondwike, and her friends 16-year-old Natalie Donlan, of Dewsbury, and Gemma Cost, 15, of Batley.

Houston, a male passenger in his car and the driver of the lorry were badly injured in the incident.

Today, a jury at Bradford Crown Court found Adam Anguige, the driver of the other car, guilty on three charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

Anguige, 25, of White Leaf Road, Batley, had denied racing Houston in his Vauxhall Nova, but it took the jury less than three hours to return their unanimous guilty verdicts.

There was spontaneous applause in the packed public gallery as Judge Christopher Prince told Anguige: "You know, because you have been advised, that you face a considerable period of imprisonment for this absolutely appalling piece of driving that you engaged in."

Anguige, who initially drove away from the scene of the accident in Huddersfield but later returned to speak to police, was remanded in custody to await his sentence.

Houston, 27, of Croft Cottage Lane, Huddersfield, was so badly injured in the crash that he was unfit to plead to the causing death by dangerous driving charges, but a different jury has already decided that he was responsible for the girls' deaths.

The two men will be sentenced together on a date to be fixed.

Houston had bought the 13-year-old Fiesta for £150 a few weeks before the fatal crash and the prosecution alleged that he and Anguige had been engaged in competitive driving on Wakefield Road on the night of the collision.

Anguige himself had recently bought the Nova which had been fitted with a more powerful engine than standard.

Prosecutor Andrew Dallas told the jury that Anguige had "picked up the gauntlet" thrown down when Houston in his Fiesta and witnesses described seeing the two cars travelling at high speed along the 40mph road.

As Anguige overtook a Range Rover, Houston simultaneously tried to overtake the Nova on the approach to a left-hand bend.

There was contact between two hatchbacks before Houston's Fiesta smashed into the on-coming lorry effectively stopping the larger vehicle in its tracks.

The jury had heard that after the accident Anguige told police he had been an innocent victim of Houston's reckless driving and he told a series of lies during his interviews.