Tortured man thought he would die

Russell Carter, 53, will be in his 80s before he is eligible for parole

A man who was tortured by a lorry driver in a prolonged office attack that led to his boss being murdered has described how he thought he would die.

Gethin Heal was one of four men tied up and tortured by Russell Carter at Driverline 247 in Pontypool. Torfaen.

The attack included the murder of Kingsley Monk, for which Carter has been jailed for at least 30 years.

Mr Heal said the terrifying ordeal will always be with him, when he hoped Carter would "hurry up" and kill him.

"It's the end as far as the legal system goes but it's something that's going to stay with me for the rest of my life," said Mr Heal, following Carter's sentencing at Newport Crown Court.

Mr Heal told how Carter had arrived with "gloves on his hands and nothing on his face".

He said: "He didn't want any of us to come out from there. I have never experienced anything like that before.

I said goodbye to my family so many times in my mind that towards the end I was hoping he would hurry up and do it Gethin Heal

"I said goodbye to my family so many times in my mind that towards the end I was hoping he would hurry up and do it, and get it over with, because I honestly thought I was going to die."

Family's suffering

Mr Monk's stepfather, Dennis Jones, told of the punishment his family had felt following the death of their stepson.

"The aspect of it that I find absolutely reprehensible is that this man was allowed to come into this country and murder our boy," he said.

"All I want to say is that if this man had had the punishment that Kingston's family had suffered, he would never see the light of day for 1,000 years.

"His mother has been in such a state. I've woken up at two or three o'clock in the morning and she's been crying her eyes out.

"This man will never suffer the sort of punishment that I would inflict upon him had I the chance."

Carter, 53, of Cardiff, will be 83 when he qualifies for parole.

Previous convictions

He carried out the attack at the Driverline offices in New Inn, Pontypool, in a bid to get £3,000 he claimed he was owed.

Carter, who has US/British citizenship, already had two armed robbery convictions in the United States.

A judge at Newport Crown Court said the murder was "frenzied and horrific."

During his trial, the jury was told how Carter murdered Mr Monk, 45, by strangling him, probably with his own tie.

He also tied up Mr Heal and colleagues Nathan Taylor and Robert Lewis as they arrived for work.

They were doused in fuel and Carter knocked Mr Monk unconscious.

Carter later told police he repeatedly kicked and hit Mr Monk with a piece of pipe before murdering him.

Mr Heal told the trial of Mr Monk's "haunting" screams.

"Kingsley was screaming for us to help him... it was terrible," he said.

He described how he heard Carter escape before hearing the sounds of a fire in the Driverline 247 office.

He struggled to free himself - and found Mr Monk's body on the office floor.

Mr Heal and the two other workmates managed to escape the building before the fire spread.

Police said they believed it was always Carter's intention to kill his three other victims.