Man Who Snorted 4.5g of Coke and Stabbed Tourist to Death Is Jailed

A 39-year-old man has been jailed for life after snorting 4.5 grams of cocaine and stabbing a man to death in Eltham, south east London.

Nicholas Foy had been drinking and taking drugs for 24 hours, reports the Metro, when – wearing only a pair of pink shorts – he ran up to 49-year-old French tourist Laurent Volpe and stuck a large knife into his stomach, completely unprovoked.

He then turned to onlookers and shouted, "Do you want some?"

Volpe, a nuclear scientist, was on holiday with his wife, Cecile Chapais, and two children, and had left the flat they were staying in to pick up some food when he ran into Foy. The knife passed through his liver and he collapsed at the scene, dying three days later despite having a liver transplant.

When police arrived at the scene, Foy punched one officer, before being tasered and arrested.

During Foy's trial, Judge Sarah Munro QC said that Foy – who suffers from depression – had not taken his medication, and instead self-medicated with five pints of lager, a litre of whiskey and rum, and up to four-and-a-half grams of cocaine.

"You took all that knowing the combination could make you angry, paranoid, aggressive and violent," said Judge Munro. "Cecile Chapais lost her partner, two children lost their father, a brother his sibling, and a mother her son as a result of your selfish and murderous act."

Foy admitted manslaughter, and in mitigation defence lawyer Orlando Pownall QC said he had shown "genuine" remorse, but he was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey on Monday and jailed with a minimum of 17 years.