Drug-crazed driver who killed innocent father after snorting SEVENTY lines of cocaine is jailed for life

• Stephen Freye, left, snorted 70 lines of cocaine before he drove at and killed Kyle Griffith, 25, right, as he returned home from work

Freye claimed he was hallucinating after sniffing a bag of 10 grammes of cocaine over a weekend.

Cardiff Crown court heard Freye confessed to police at the scene: 'I was told to kill a stranger.'

Freye, of Roath, Cardiff, denied murder but was found guilty following a two week trial.

A judge jailed him for life and said he would spend a minimum of 13 years behind bars.

Mr Justice MacDuff said he had read victim impact statements from Kyle’s mum, step-dad and sister. He told Freye: 'They make for harrowing reading - Kyle was a thoroughly lovely and worthwhile man whose life has been wasted. He was an innocent man, a young man and father and was walking home after a night in town and minding his own business when you ran him down.

'You were in a psychotic state, hallucinating and hearing the voice of your drug supplier telling you to kill. 'You had voluntarily taken drugs over three days when you knew full well the effect they had on you.

'You were tempted by your addiction but the decision was yours and you bare the responsibility. 'Kyle was a fine young man, who was greatly loved and had a promising life in front of him.

Prosecutor Huw Evans said: 'Freye had taken cocaine and had suffered hallucinations shortly before he drove straight into innocent Mr Griffith.

'He told police that at the exact moment he saw his victim, the voices told him his own family would die if he didn’t drive at him.

'He said he didn’t even think, he just assumed that if he ran him over, everything would be okay. 'He deliberately drove at him and his intention was to kill or cause serious injury.'

Mr Griffith was a chef at Cardiff Arts Institute and father to a four-year-old girl called Emma. The jury was shown home movies made by Freye in his flat taking cocaine and apparently searching for the voices he claimed he could hear.

The films, made in the dark, show him sitting staring at the camera and looking around the room. Freye claimed he was driving to a police station in his Fiat Cinquecento to tell them about the voices when he saw Kyle on the roadside in January this year.

He denied murdering Kyle but admitted manslaughter claiming he was suffering from an abnormality of mind at the time.