A BUSINESSMAN described the horror he felt when he found Driverline 247 director Kingsley Monk dead at the company premises in Pontypool.

Giving evidence in the trial of Russell Carter at Newport Crown Court yesterday, Derek Allan Styles, told jurors he found Mr Monk lying face down on the landing floor of the offices on October 20.

He was dead and his tie was tied tightly round his neck, he said. He had been gagged with a surgical glove and his hands were tied behind his back.

Mr Styles who runs Gwent Autofactors, the premises next door to Driverline, told the jury he could smell petrol in his office at around 9.30am but couldn't find the cause.

At around 1pm he smelled smoke and thought it might be coming from the Driverline premises.

When he could not see any smoke he returned to his office where thick smoke was billowing from a ventilation shaft linked to Driverline, he said.

Moments later Gethin Heal rushed through the doors of Gwent Autofactors with his hands bound with cable ties. He also had blood on his shirt, the jury heard.

Mr Styles said Mr Heal was panicked and told him Mr Monk was dead.

He cut the ties on Mr Heal’s hands and ran to next door with a fire extinguisher and found Mr Monk on the landing.

He said: “It was horrible. His tie was tied tight around his throat, not around his collar. I had to be careful cutting it off. It was unbelievable.”

Mr Styles said he extinguished two fires, one on a desk and one on the office floor.

He said he and another man who came to help tried to resuscitate Mr Monk before firefighters and paramedics arrived.

Carter denies murdering Mr Monk and the attempted murder of his co-workers Gethin Heal, Robert Lewis and Nathan Taylor.

Thinking of family helped victim through

WORKER Robert Lewis told the court how thoughts of his family spurred him on to break free from his restraints and try to overcome Carter.

Mr Lewis told the court how he was beaten, bound and gagged by Carter who later placed a plastic bag over his head and taped it in place.

Jurors heard he feared he would die but, thinking of his family, he managed to break the cable ties on his wrists and rip the bag off his head.

He confronted Carter who came at him with a metal bar and hit him twice on the left side of his head, knocking him unconscious, he said.

Mr Lewis said the next thing he remembered was being woken up by Gethin Heal.

David Aubrey prosecuting previously told the court Mr Lewis was taken to hospital by helicopter.

He suffered a fractured cheek bone and had 16 stitches in the back of head.