THE man convicted of the murder of Gwent businessman Kingsley Monk is due to be sentenced today.

Russell Leon Carter, 52, of Penrhos Crescent, Rumney, Cardiff, is facing a mandatory life sentence after being convicted last month of the murder of Mr Monk at Driverline 247, New Inn, on October 20 last year.

The Recorder of Cardiff, Judge Nicholas Cooke QC, is due to set his tariff for the murder conviction and to sentence Carter for the attempted murders of co-workers Gethin Heal, Robert Lewis and Nathan Taylor.

Father-of-two Mr Monk, 45, from Oakdale, died after lorry driver Carter subjected him and the three survivors to a terrifying four-hour ordeal at the driver agency site. Carter had denied the charges.

Operations manager Mr Monk was throttled with his own tie during the attack, after Carter bound and gagged the men, beat them and threatened them with a gun.

Carter threw petrol in Mr Taylor and Mr Lewis's faces and threatened them with a lighter, and knocked Mr Lewis to the floor with an iron bar, putting a plastic bag on his head and stamping on it, when Mr Lewis broke free from the cable ties binding him and tried to save Mr Monk's life. Carter then set a fire before fleeing the scene of his crime.

Last month, Newport crown court heard that Carter was in dispute with the firm over £74.74 which his bosses had charged him over a crash in which he was involved.