Jail for driver who killed two friends in cocaine-fuelled crash

A man who binged on cocaine for 18 hours before killing two pedestrians in a road crash in Cambridgeshire has been jailed for more than ten years.

Richard Frost, 39, from Chelmsford, was driving his BMW X5 dangerously and at high speed when it left the road, mounted a grass verge and killed Thomas Fletcher, 19, and Thomas Northam, 22, at about 11am on 3 January in Yaxley last year.

The pair had been walking along the B1091 out of Yaxley when they were hit from behind by Frost’s vehicle which had crossed onto the wrong side of the road.

Cambridge Crown Court heard in the hours leading up to the collision Frost was seen and recorded driving at speeds up to 117 mph, overtaking cars into oncoming traffic and undertaking using footpaths and pedestrian walkways.

Following the crash, Frost fled the scene with a suitcase containing £72,000 in cash, which he dumped in a residential garden and was later recovered by the police. He was pursued by a member of the public who he punched and was eventually arrested at 10.45pm that night after being found asleep at his mother’s house in Chelmsford.

Frost was jailed today (Monday, 26 March) after admitting two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, two counts of common assault and one of money laundering at a hearing last month.

He was sentenced to ten years and nine months for the dangerous driving offences, and 16 months for money laundering - to run consecutively. A six-month sentence for assault will run concurrently.

He has also been disqualified from driving for five years, plus an extension period of five years and seven months, making the total driving ban 11 years and seven months.

Judge Farrell, sentencing, confirmed a further proceeds of crime hearing will take place on 8 June to discuss what happens to the money Frost was in possession of at the time of the collision.