A mentally ill driver who deliberately crashed into a cyclist and two pedestrians during a "killing spree" has been sentenced to life imprisonment alongside a Mental Health Act order, meaning he will initially be detained in hospital. Warwick Crown Court was told Albanian national Emiljano Kasaj was in the UK illegally and in breach of his bail from an immigration detention centre when he used his Mercedes to unlawfully kill passer-by Leo Moran and cyclist Joel Carriedo.

A third victim was knocked into a building and suffered a head injury during what High Court Judge Mr Justice Choudhury described as "horrendous" offences committed against innocent victims in Coventry in September 2023. Kasaj, aged 34, pleaded guilty in March this year to one count of attempted murder and two counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

His sentencing hearing was told on Monday that he was suffering from a severe paranoid illness, probably schizophrenia, at the time of the killings, falsely believing he was a "king" who was being blackmailed by political leaders in Albania.

The court heard that as he was placed into a cell after the deaths, Kasaj had said a burst tyre had prevented him claiming more victims and said: "I have killed two people today. I was going to be next. It was my turn to get slaughtered."

Passing sentence, the judge told Kasaj: "On September 3 2023 you decided to kill random members of the public by mowing them down in your car.

"In the space of a few minutes you killed two people and seriously injured a third.

"It is only because you crashed your car that mercifully there were no more victims."

Describing the events as a "killing spree", the judge said of comments made by Kasaj after his arrest: "You therefore admitted hitting the victims intentionally with the purpose of killing them."

Accepting that the explanation for Kasaj's actions lay in his mental health problems and the "beliefs" he held, the judge told him: "You clearly had what the law calls an abnormality of mental functioning."

Kasaj was sentenced to life with a minimum term of nine years and four months and also given an indefinite hybrid order under mental health laws, meaning he will be detained in hospital "for as long as is necessary" given his condition.

Graphic CCTV footage played to the court showed 44-year-old Mr Moran, who died of a neck injury, being struck at 7.56am in Gosford Street.

Other footage, presented to the court by prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith, showed the car driving off at speed with a smashed windscreen, and later travelling towards hospital worker Mr Carriedo, a married father-of-two.

The 47-year-old NHS worker, whose bike was split in two by the impact, died of chest injuries after being struck head-on and knocked over a wall in Woodway Lane at 8.03am.

Opening the facts of the case against Kasaj, of no fixed address, Mr Grieves-Smith said the defendant went on to crash into a house around 300 metres away and was arrested almost an hour later in a nearby garden.

The court heard Kasaj had used a false name and address to register the vehicle.

Mr Grieves-Smith said Kasaj was arrested for immigration offences in August 2022 as he had made no attempts to register with the authorities, and was detained in order to be removed back to Albania.

Kasaj was held at Harmondsworth Detention Centre in west London but in October 2022, the court heard, he was bailed to an address in Newfield Road, Coventry, with a condition to sign on at the Solihull Immigration Centre on December 5.

Mr Grieves-Smith said: "He failed to appear for this and all other appointments."

Psychiatric evidence presented to the court showed that Kasaj suffers from "a major mental illness, the most likely diagnosis being schizophrenia" which may have been aggravated by use of cannabis or cocaine in the weeks before the incident.

In a victim impact statement to the court, Mr Moran's mother Teresa said: "Leo was my youngest son and we had a bond like no other. He left his mark wherever he went.

"We knew early on in the police investigation that the murderer was known to the Home Office. We later found out he was an illegal immigrant.

"Leo has been let down by the Home Office. We have all been let down by the Home Office. If the Home Office had done their job properly then the public of Coventry may have been saved and Leo might still be here.

"There will never be justice for Leo."

In other tributes read to the court, Mr Corriedo - whose wife said he had been callously left to die - was described as a "wonderful, protective and caring" husband and a devoted father.