THREE families were today united in grief to mark the first anniversary of a triple killing which rocked a tiny community.

Martin Connop, Emma Proctor and John Gibbings were mown down on a Cwmbran street by Steven Price.

The schizophrenic killer lived a short distance away and wrongly believed one of the victims wanted to kill him.

In a matter of seconds on that sunny April afternoon, the lives of three families were shattered, and nine children were left without a parent. Today, the families of the victims speak of their heartache, and of the scars that will never heal.

Last October, a judge ordered Price to be detained at the secure Ashworth Hospital in Liverpool, after he pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The three friends - Mr Connop, 31, Miss Proctor, 25, and Mr Gibbings, 37, were on their way to Mr Connop's house for a barbecue after spending the afternoon in the Cross Keys Inn, on Five Locks Road, Pontnewydd.

Price, who had been waiting for the group in a car park on Maesgwyn, accelerated his father's powerful 4x4 vehicle to about 50 mph and drove straight at the three as they crossed the junction of Maesgwyn and Five Locks Road.

Mr Gibbings and Mr Connop were pronounced dead at the scene, while Miss Proctor died the following day.

Paranoid schizophrenic Price mistakenly believed Mr Connop "wanted to kill him", it emerged when the case came before Cardiff crown court.