A father stabbed his teenage daughter to death in the centre of Cardigan "to put her out of her pain", a jury heard today (Monday).

Gary John Fisher, aged 48, claimed his daughter Chanelle Sasha Jones, known as Sasha, had told him she had been raped and could not live with the thought.

But she had made no such complaint, said Chris Clee QC, prosecuting at Swansea crown court.

Fisher, from Solihull near Birmingham, denies the murder of 17-year-old Sasha on August 2nd last year.

Mr Clee told the jury that Fisher had had an "on, off" relationship with Jane Jones and she had had two daughters and a son by him.

In the early 1990s the family moved to Cardigan but by 1995 the relationship was again "off". Jane Jones and the children moved into Golwg y Castell while Fisher returned to Birmingham.

Ten years later Sasha made contact with her father and he began to visit Cardigan regularly.

Mr Clee said Fisher took the children out for day trips and began to offer Sasha amphetamine, which she took.

In the early hours of August 2nd he "became keen" to take them out again. But the two youngest children pretended to be asleep and only Sasha got into his Ford Fiesta.

About 10.30am Alice Thomas, who lived close to the Angel Hotel in the centre of Cardigan, heard what she thought was a man bullying a female. She heard a man say "get in" and another witness heard a female say "no."

Sasha was stabbed to death about 30 minutes later, possibly in the car park of the pub, said Mr Clee.

About 2.30pm Jane Jones saw Fisher sitting in his car close to her home in Golwg y Castell.

"He was smiling and smirking," said Mr Clee. Jane Jones contacted the police at 2.33pm. Although she could not see her, Sasha was in the passenger seat and already dead.

Mr Clee said it was not clear where Fisher went but his car was picked up by a camera in Llandewi Velfrey, near Narberth, at 5.20pm.

A short while later Fisher telephoned his sister, Susan Abbot, but her 16-year-old daughter Zoe answered the call.

Fisher allegedly told her, "I'm realy sorry but I've done something. I don't think you want to know what."

The line was disconnected but Fisher rang again, to say, "I'm sorry but I've killed your eldest cousin. She is lying in the car, freezing."

The police were contacted again. At 9.15pm a camera picked up Fisher's Fiesta in College Street, Lampeter, and 15 minutes later officers spotted the vehicle on the A482 at Pont Creuddyn.

As a police car approached Fisher slowed down but then raced away towards Aberaeron.

Police laid out a stinger device and punctured the tyres, but Fisher drove on until he swerved into a layby and collided with a parked camper van. By chance, a TV documentary cameraman was in the back of a police car and filmed the Fiesta passing over the stinger device.

Mr Clee said Fisher suffered head injuries and was taken to Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth, where he told staff nurse Eileen Jenkins, "I killed her. I stabbed her because she was in so much pain."

A psychiatrist and a social worker examined Fisher, and he provided "a graphic account," said Mr Clee.

Fisher allegedly said that his daughter had wanted to die and that he had been planning her death for two and a half months.

"I felt she was suffering and I wanted to help her to die," he allegedly said.

Mr Clee said Fisher told how he parked the car behind the Angel Hotel and went to the passenger side door.

"She was shocked to see the knife. She tried to get away, to resist but she couldn't because of the seat belt," he is said to have told them.

Mr Clee said Fisher also said that Sasha had struggled so much that he had accidentally stabbed himself in the arm.

He added that when Fisher was asked what he planned to do now, he replied, "To spend the rest of my life in prison."

Fisher was arrested and taken to Aberystwyth police station. When asked if he intended to harm himself he is said to have replied, "It's either that or doing life."

During formal police interviews Fisher refused to answer any questions.

Mr Clee said Sasha died from multiple stab wounds, in particular a deep stab to her heart.

The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.