A helicopter engineer has been cleared of manslaughter following a crash in which a pilot and his two Sussex passengers died.

Paul Kenward, 47, was found not guilty yesterday after an accident involving a Hughes helicopter which plummeted to the ground on March 8, 2000, at Twyford in Berkshire.

The tail boom had broken away and become entangled in the rotor blades.

Oxford Crown Court heard during the trial that Kenward, from Biggin Hill, Kent, ignored manufacturers' instructions to replace a cracked part which supported the tail boom and had it welded instead.

Passengers Dennis Kenyon, 18, of Lesser Foxholes, Shoreham, Jane Biddulph, 23, of Roberts Road, Lancing, and pilot Brendan Loft, 38, from Reigate, Surrey, all died instantly when the craft smashed into the ground and burst into flames minutes after taking off from the Booker airfield in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

Kenward, a trained aircraft engineer licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority and with years of experience, had admitted at an earlier hearing three separate charges in connection with the fatal accident.

He admitted allowing an aircraft to fly without a valid certificate of authority, endangering an aircraft and failing to make an entry in an aircraft log book.

Sentencing was adjourned for reports.

The maximum sentence Kenward can receive is an unlimited fine, two years in prison, or both.

The court was told by James Curtis, prosecuting, that neither weather nor pilot error was to blame for the tragedy.

He said: "He caused a repair to be done to a serious defect in a vital component of the machine which was forbidden by the manufacturers and forbidden by law.

"The repair failed. It caused the helicopter to break up in flight and fall to the ground killing the three occupants.

"The manufacturers' position was quite clear and unambiguous. It said you must not repair the component. You must replace it. He did no such thing.

"He got it welded with fatal consequences. His negligence is not in dispute. His negligence was criminal."

Although he denied manslaughter, Kenward admitted he authorised the repairs.

The helicopter carrying the three friends had been heading for Shoreham airport.