Stephen Perrett, 38, has been jailed for six years after admitting manslaughter

The father of an 'exceptionally talented' PhD student has forgiven the addict who injected her with a lethal cocktail of drugs.

Claire Drury, 32, died when Stephen Perrett injected her with a fatal dose of crack cocaine and heroin - known as a 'snowball'.

Homeless Perrett, 38, nicknamed 'The Doctor' by drug users for his reputation for injecting others, has been sentenced to six years in jail after admitting manslaughter.

On the day she died, Ms Drury - who was two years ahead of her class at the age of eight and went on to do a PHD in biomedical science - had begged doctors to help her complete her studies.

Now her father Stephen, 64, has forgiven her killer and blamed society for her death.

Professional mediator Mr Drury said: 'Claire had a choice in life. I tried desperately to get here away from the bad people.

'Her choice of male partners was appalling. I thought for the last two years of her life she was on a rollercoaster to hell.

'Me and Claire's mum separated when she was eight years old - she rejected Claire.

'Her mother had a relationship with another man and Claire went to live with her. But she soon asked to come back and live with me.'

Stephen Drury, left, has forgiven the man who injected his daughter Claire, right, with a lethal cocktail of drugs

Ms Drury rapidly fell unconscious on a bed in the YMCA in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and died on May 11, 2017.

Mr Drury added: 'I felt sorry for Perrett in court. He looked like such a lone figure. There was no-one there to support him.

'I genuinely believe he is a victim of drugs himself, the scourge of our society.

'Most of my friends say if he killed their daughter he wouldn't have made it to court but there's the reality here, nothing is going to bring Claire back.

On the day she died, Ms Drury - who was two years ahead of her class at the age of eight and went on to do a PHD in biomedical science - had begged doctors to help her complete her studies

'She had gone so far down the road, her rational thinking had gone. It was like having a daughter I didn't know any more.'

Perrett initially denied involvement in Ms Drury's death until his trial at the end of January when her father and sister Anna were braced to hear the case.

Ms Drury as a little girl in an undated family photo

He then changed his plea to guilty on the basis he prepared the 'snowball' and injected the drugs into Ms Drury and himself.

Perrett was sentenced on January 29 at Gloucester Crown Court-.

A former pupil of Solihill School in the West Midlands, Ms Drury was exceptionally talented at science.

But after becoming a drug user, she visited the doctors on the morning of her death with the hope of getting help to finish her studies.

She took £30 out of a cashpoint to pay for the drugs from Perrett in his room at the YMCA.

Mr Drury added: 'It was hard to get over the hurdles in the aftermath, thinking Claire was laid there on a slab being cut up like a piece of meat.

'We had to wait five or six weeks to get here back for her funeral. I spoke then and it was the hardest thing I have ever done.

'There she was lying there in a box next to me. In a way there was some relief, as she will never be in any more pain.

Mr Drury said: 'Her choice of male partners was appalling. I thought for the last two years of her life she was on a rollercoaster to hell'

'She will never grow old and my memories of her are frozen in time. We miss her and I feel for the rest of the family. Her smile lives on forever.

'I tried many times to get Claire of drugs and lived with her for several months at one stage. Another time I helped her pay off a £150 drug debt.

Ms Drury was exceptionally talented at science

'But as time went on, I realised the effect the substances had on her brain. No longer was she the girl I knew, the talented singer and intelligent student.

'For the last year she wouldn't speak any reasonable sense, until our last conversation, when she was better than she had been for a while.

'It was almost as though that was the end chapter. A few days later she was dead.'

Mr Drury, a former champion speed walker, who has completed the equivalent of around 2,700 marathons, is planning a walk to mark a year since his daughter's death.

He will set off from John O'Groats to Land's End to launch a charity called Million Mile Challenge, utilising his athletics background to get a city's residents together to cover a million miles at each event.

Money raised would go towards drug alcohol and other child-related causes. Anyone interested in joining in with the initiative should email sdrury53@gmail.com.