A driver who fatally crashed his BMW X5 into two pedestrians after bingeing on cocaine has been jailed.

Richard Frost, 39, took the drug for the previous 18 hours before he struck the two men at Yaxley near Peterborough and fled across fields with £72,000 in a suitcase, prosecutor Jonathon Polnay told an earlier hearing at Cambridge Crown Court.

Frost took drugs at the wheel with two passengers who were in his car, but he assaulted one and left them both at a service station before the fatal crash, the court heard.

He also assaulted a man who tried to make him wait for police after the crash, and officers found him asleep that night at his mother’s house in Chelmsford, Essex.

Frost admitted to causing the deaths of 19-year-old Thomas Fletcher and Thomas Northam, 22, by dangerous driving on January 3 last year.

He also admitted two counts of common assault and one of money laundering.

The defendant, of Dorset Avenue, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court to a 14-year extended sentence on both counts of causing death by dangerous driving, comprising a custodial term of 10 years and nine months and an extension period of three years and three months.

He was sentenced to 16 months in prison for money laundering and three months in prison on both counts of assault, with these sentences concurrent to each other but consecutive to the extended sentence.

He was also banned from driving for 11 years and seven months.

Judge David Farrell QC told Frost: “There’s no doubt in my mind that your behaviour on January 3 last year encompassed a most appalling, deliberate and flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and not a care for the danger that you caused to other road users including vulnerable pedestrians.”

He described it as a “prolonged, persistent” course of bad driving at a time when Frost was “consuming illicit drugs, causing significant impairment”.

Judge Farrell said Frost was “dangerous” and that his deliberate drug consumption played a more significant part in his actions than a pre-existing mental disorder.

Frost had driven from Essex to Grimsby then south through Boston, Lincolnshire, to the site of the crash.

Mr Polnay said Frost took drugs at the wheel and reached speeds of up to 117mph.

One witness described him as “driving like a nutter”.

Shauna Ritchie, mitigating, said Frost was “extremely sorry” for the suffering he had caused the families of the deceased.

A restraining order was made banning Frost from contacting the passenger he assaulted, Tracey Anderson.

Judge Farrell also ordered that Stefon Mills, the man who gave chase to Frost, was assaulted and dialled 999, be awarded £500 in recognition of his bravery.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing is listed to be heard at Cambridge Crown Court on June 8 in respect of the money in the suitcase.