This is 39-year-old Gavin Collins from Tibshelf, Derbyshire in England. On the 19th of April 2019,
he embarks on a crazed rampage, resulting in a single fatality. Having just been released
from a stint in prison the day before, Collins was noticed ranting about Jesus
in what seemed like a psychotic episode. He burst into a neighbour's house,
shouting that he was "borrowing the car" as he grabbed the keys and took off towards
Nottingham. Cameras installed in the car capture Collins as he rants and raves nonsensically,
while driving at high speeds in an erratic manner, dodging and weaving around other motorists.
The end of the footage shows Gavin Collins ploughing into a house and
wrecking the car. The homeowner is unharmed, and astonishingly, so is Collins. Leaving the car,
he finds the homeowner outside and threatens him while attempting to take his car.
An Opel Corsa pulls up, and seeing the carnage, its driver winds down her window to see if
she can assist. Collins climbs through the window and makes her drive for him,
before forcing her from the car, then continuing his spree of reckless driving.
He crashes this car only minutes later, wedging it on railings, and abandons it, making his way to a
nearby residential area, where he uses a patio slab to smash through the windows of a home and
into the living room, where Nicola Cox is with her two sons, aged five months and four years.
Collins demands her car keys, threatening to kill her sons. He makes the sign of the cross
on their foreheads in his own blood before leaving in Nicola's Seat Leon.
Shortly after, Collins reverses this car into 87-year-old Terry Radford, who was out for a walk.
Radford dies at the scene, and Collins continues his rampage, before police catch up with him.
Gavin
Collins is arrested.
At the trial, the court learned more about Terry Radford, the man who had been killed in
the rampage. The 87-year-old was a former teacher, councillor and magistrate, and family explained he
was finally getting his life back, after taking care of his partner with dementia, who had passed
away about six months before. He had had a series of holidays lined up before his death.
The prosecution alleged that Gavin Collins' rampage was fuelled by drugs,
stating he exhibited physical symptoms after his arrest that suggested he had
been using the synthetic cannabinoid Spice. Not to be confused with natural cannabis,
this designer drug is much more harmful and unpredictable, and his been linked with psychosis.
It does appear that Collins was attempting to smoke something while being arrested.
Gavin Collins denied using Spice, and told the court he had spent over 90% of his adult life
in prison and had been hearing voices since he was a child. He claimed his mental health
had been deteriorating in the lead up to his release the day before the incident,
as he did not have access to his medication. In relation to the rampage itself, he said he
did not remember the events of the day clearly. Ultimately, a charge of kidnapping was dismissed,
but Gavin Collins was found guilty of two counts of burglary, two counts of aggravated vehicle
taking and one of attempted robbery. He was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter
by diminished responsibility. He was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 14 years.