A MUM of two has been jailed for a brutal attack which left her best friend dying on the floor of her home.
Cheyanne Loder was charged with the murder of 38-year-old mother-of three Hayley Adams but the allegation was dropped after medical evidence showed she may have died of an unconnected heart attack.
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It was made clear, however, that she had been subjected to a ferocious beating by Loder before she was found.
At Exeter Crown Court, Loder, 32, admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for two and a half years.
The two women had spent three days taking drugs together at Loder’s house in Barnstaple, Devon, and she told police she had no memory of carrying out the attack which left Hayley with six teeth knocked out.
The cause of the attack remains a mystery.
Loder and Hayley had been best friends for four years and neighbours heard them laughing and dancing together shortly before police were called one day last November.
She wrote a letter to the victim’s family saying she could not remember what had happened and she “loved and missed” her best friend.
Ms Adams family were in court to hear a victim impact statement written by her sister Jessica which spoke of the heartache which they still feel and about the effect Hayley’s death has had on her three children, aged 16, 14, and five.
It described how the youngest child has said that her mummy is in heaven but still doesn’t really understand that she will never see her again.
The family said they would remember their ‘fun-loving disco queen’ every day for the rest of their lives.
Judge James Adkin who spoke of the ‘ferocity of violence towards Hayley’ during a ‘prolonged and persistent assualt’.
He told her: “I accept that the deceased’s family’s agony has been compounded by the knowledge that before she died she was subjected to violence by someone they thought to be a loyal friend of hers.
“This offence was committed while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
On you own account, you had used hundreds of pounds worth of crack cocaine.
That seems to be the only explanation for the attack on your friend and the violence you did to her.
“The fact that you were a friend seems to me to be no great mitigation. It must have been all the more shocking for her to be attacked she would have been confident to be with and the very last person she would have expected to subject her to violence.”
Mr Joss Ticehurst, prosecuting, said a post mortem report showed that it was impossible to prove that Loder’s attack had led to Hayley’s death because she had high levels of cocaine in her body and suffered from a rare disease called Sarcoidosis which may have caused her heart to malfunction.
Hayley was found unconscious at Loder’s flat when paramedics were called at 5.30pm and declared dead after efforts to revive her failed.
There were injuries to both sides of her face and six teeth had been knocked out, possibly by kicking or stamping.
Loder made a number of comments at the scene including “What have I done, she’s my best friend?” and that she had been trying to pull her friend’s teeth out.
She said the pair had been on a crack cocaine binge and had also taken alcohol and amphetamine, Devon Live reports.
She said: “I’ve done it. I know I’ve killed her. I don’t know what happened. I woke up on top of her. We’ve been on crack cocaine for three days. I woke up on top of her and called my father.”
Mr Joe Stone, KC, defending, said Loder has ‘amnesia of the assault’ but was Hayley’s best friend and had no reason to cause the injury other than the effects of the drugs she had taken.
He said psychiatric reports said she suffered from complex PTSD as a result of early life experiences and had become dependent on drugs and alcohol by the time of the attack.
She has detoxed and dried out during seven months in custody and wants to make a fresh start so she can be reunited with her own children.
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He read out a letter which Loder apologised and said she never meant to harm her friend and remains appalled and mystified by her actions.
Loder has spent 193 days on remand and this will be deducted from the 15 months she is due to serve behind bars before release on licence half way through the 30 month sentence.
