Martin Newman drank and took cocaine night before crash

Just hours earlier, he had been drinking 10 cans of Strongbow and taking cocaine in his hotel room before he decided to make the three hour journey from Leicester to South Wales.

Newman was today, Friday, jailed for nine years and four months – the longest sentence the judge could pass – for causing the deaths by dangerous driving of three-year-old Jayden-Lee and four-year-old Gracie-Ann Lucas, who were from Tredegar.

The court heard Newman believed he had “momentarily fallen asleep behind the wheel” when his white Transit van veered across three lanes of the motorway and into the hard shoulder, where the family’s car was stopped with its hazard lights flashing.

The crash, on February 5, caused “catastrophic” injuries to the two children, who were sitting in the back of their family Ford Fiesta. Gracie-Ann died in hospital the following day, and Jayden-Lee died from his injuries the following week.

Their mother, Rhiannon Lucas, was also seriously injured and suffered lacerations to her liver. She spent nine days in hospital being treated.

Jayden-Lee and Gracie-Ann Lucas. Picture: Family handout via Gwent Police

Cardiff Crown Court was shown CCTV footage of Newman driving his van westwards, from the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge to near the crash site, just after junction 28 at Tredegar Park.

Roger Griffiths, prosecuting, also read out witness statements from several other drivers who saw Newman in the moments before the crash.

One, Cara Williams, saw the white Transit “weaving across the carriageway” near junction 24 and thought the driver was “either drunk or on his phone”, Mr Griffiths said.

When her vehicle passed the van, she tried to remonstrate with Newman, who indeed had his phone “glued to his ear”. The van driver was “oblivious” to her protests, the court heard.

Another witness, Rachel Paparikis, saw the moment Newman crashed into the family car. Mr Griffiths said she recalled seeing the white van “fly past her” and an “almighty bang” at the point of impact.

A third driver, a Mr Cooper, said Newman had earlier tailgated his vehicle as the speed limit increased from 50 to 70mph west of Newport.

Newman’s van “drive right behind his” and Mr Cooper “found it intimidating”, Mr Griffiths told the court. The van then moved from lane three to the hard shoulder but “didn’t indicate at any point” before the “massive impact” of the crash.

When the emergency services arrived, police constable Charlotte Davies saw a member of the public “marching Mr Newman towards her and saying ‘he’s drunk’”, Mr Griffiths said.

The defendant was described as “upset and crying” and saying “I want to die”.

“I shouldn’t have been in a rush to get home,” Mr Griffiths said Newman had told officers.

Newman failed a breathalyser test and later, at the Grange University Hospital, further blood samples were taken. He was found to have 185 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood (the legal limit is 80 milligrams) as well as traces of a cocaine by-product.

The court heard how Newman, 41, had been working that week as a painter and decorator at an Aldi distribution centre. He had gone out on February 4 and had drinks with colleagues before returning to his Travelodge hotel room and drinking 10 cans of Strongbow cider and taking cocaine before sleeping “for a couple of hours”, Mr Griffiths said.

He planned to go to work but felt “tired, drained and hungover” after working 60-90 hours that week, and so instead decided to drive back to South Wales.

Mr Griffiths said a bottle of wine was found in the Transit van and Newman admitted to having a “sip” during the journey because he had a dry mouth.

While driving, he spoke several times with an ex-partner on the phone, but the court heard there was no evidence Newman had been on the phone when the fatal crash happened.

He also told police he had “maybe nodded off a few times”, Mr Griffiths said.

The court heard Newman, formerly of Croeserw in Neath Port Talbot, had committed previous motor offences, including a conviction from 2002 for drink-driving, and a fine from 2014 for using a phone while driving.

Heath Edwards, representing the defendant, said Newman – who himself has two daughters – knew there was “no price he can pay to turn back the hands of time”.

“There is no excuse for what he did,” Mr Edwards told the court, adding that Newman had expressed “remorse and self-disgust” for his actions.

Newman had “immediately acknowledged his wrongdoing at the scene” and had pleaded guilty to the courts at the first opportunity, Mr Edwards said.

Newman had earlier admitted two charges of causing death by dangerous driving, as well as one charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Before being sentenced on Friday, he also pleaded guilty to one charge each of drink- and drug-driving.

Judge Daniel Williams said Newman had felt “too tired and hungover” to work on February 5 but instead decided to “drive a three-hour journey home”.

“You were in no condition to drive,” the judge told Newman. “The alcohol in your blood was over twice the legal limit.”

“This is a most serious level of dangerous driving,” he added, telling Newman he’d had a “flagrant disregard for the rules”.

There was “no real mitigation” for the offending, and “any remorse you feel does not affect the sentence which this court must pass”.

The judge commented on the sentencing guidelines, set by Parliament, to which courts are bound – the maximum sentence after trial for one incident of dangerous driving is 14 years, but owing to his guilty pleas, Newman must be given a one-third reduction.

Judge Williams said people “may think such a maximum sentence is inadequate to reflect what you have done” and would want the guidelines to be “re-examined”.

He jailed Newman for nine years and four months – the maximum sentence he could pass given the defendant’s admissions of guilt.