Paul Kelly jailed for life for murder of Deighton man Kim Driver

ALCOHOLIC and former drug addict Kim Driver lived a lonely, sad life in his Deighton flat.

But his fantasies about women were to cost him his life.

And yesterday, a brutal thug called Paul Kelly (below) was given a life sentence for the murder of Mr Driver, and was told he must spend at least 14 years behind bars.

Former drug user Mr Driver, 52, was said to have lived a rather sad existence at his ground floor flat at Crawthorne Crescent, Deighton.

But his made-up claims about sexual relationships with women cost him his life.

He claimed to have had a relationship with a former girlfriend of Kelly. Kelly sought a vicious revenge.

A jury at Bradford Crown Court yesterday found Kelly, 31, of Abbey Road, Fartown, guilty of murdering Mr Driver during an attack in which the deceased was stabbed in the chest and upper abdomen 11 times.

Kelly threatened to kill Mr Driver the day before the fatal attack and although he made confessions after the stabbing, he claimed during his trial that his former girlfriend, her sister and her mother lied about what he said.

Kelly was told he would have to serve a minimum of 14 years behind bars for the murderous attack last July.

The Honourable Mr Justice Coulson described Mr Driver as a harmless drunk and drug addict who made the mistake of suggesting to Kelly that he was having some form of relationship with Kelly’s ex-partner.

“There was nothing in Mr Driver’s boast,” said the judge.

“As one witness put it he was a fantasist.”

But the judge said Kelly was still obsessed with and controlling towards his former partner Paula Nugent despite the fact that they had separated by July last year.

Mr Justice Coulson said Kelly had brooded about Mr Driver’s boasts and had threatened to kill him.

“You have not shown any remorse for what you did and your defence to the charge brought against you has involved an allegation of a perjury conspiracy involving Paula Nugent, her sister and her mother.”

The judge accepted that although Mr Driver’s boasts would have had no impact on a reasonable man, they may have had some effect in provoking Kelly because of his obsession with Miss Nugent.

Prosecutor Rodney Jameson QC told a jury at the start of Kelly’s trial last month how Mr Driver, who had a history of mental health problems, lived, in part, a fantasy life in which he imagined that any woman who was prepared to talk to him was someone he should fall in love with.

Kelly’s former partner knew Mr Driver because she would act as a driver for him.

But Mr Jameson told Bradford Crown Court that she became the latest in a line of fantasy girlfriends.

“So far as Paula Nugent is concerned it seems that she was barely aware of his feelings at all,” said Mr Jameson.

“However the defendant did become aware that Kim Driver had become attracted to Paula Nugent and was apparently claiming to have had some sort of sexual encounter with her.”

Kelly, who had a previous conviction for wounding with intent, claimed he had been smoking drugs at Miss Nugent’s home in Mirfield on the night of the murder and he told police later he had not been at Mr Driver’s flat for more than two weeks.

Det Supt Paul Taylor, of the West Yorkshire Police Force’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “This was an extremely violent offence, and the sentence handed out by the court reflects the severity of the crime.”