'I just killed my friend' – drug driver locked up after death crash following rave

AN INTOXICATED man killed his best friend when he crashed his car while they were travelling back from a rave where the driver had been taking drugs.

- PHILIP DEWEY Reporter [e-mail]

Following his arrest for causing the death of his friend, Tymon Turner told police: “My friend is dead, I just killed my friend.”

Jac Walters, 19, was killed after suffering a severe head injury when the silver Ford Fiesta driven by Turner, now 21, crashed into a bank and flipped onto its roof. The teenager was declared dead at the scene.

A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court heard Jac, Turner and their friend, Tom Beswick, drove from their homes in Ceredigion on November 11, 2023, in order to attend a rave in the Forest of Dean.

All three teenagers were school friends and left at 10pm, arriving at the Forest of Dean between midnight and 12.30am on November 12.

The rave started at around 1.30am, with Jac and the defendant drinking rum and Coke. They spent the night dancing, with Turner taking at least three lines of ketamine, and MDMA.

Mr Beswick said the defendant “felt the effects” of the ketamine, and he was “stumbling around” to keep his balance.

The trio waited until around 8am for Tymon to sober up, but he wanted to go back to the rave so they remained there until 10.45am before heading back to the car.

They sat in the car for an hour and Jac had taken the defendant's car keys out of concern for his condition. Despite this, Turner wanted the keys back and was “determined to drive.

Mr Beswick said he and Jac told Turner he was “being f****** stupid”.

He added: “I had seen him sober up a bit more but I didn’t think he should be driving.”

Eventually, the friend relented and the keys were given back to Turner, who wanted to drive to Bristol in order to get food.

Shortly before noon the defendant was driving along the A4136 near Monmouth with Mr Beswick in the front passenger seat and Jac in the back seat. They were travelling downhill through a series of bends when Turner failed to take a right-hand bend as a result of driving too fast and/or a misjudgement.