Last details revealed: Audrey Griffin’s killer Adrian Torrens was coming off month-long drug binge

Killer Adrian Torrens was “coming off drugs” when he was charged with Audrey Griffin’s murder and initially jailed in a glass-fronted cell before he stole a razor to end his life.

Adrian Torrens was “coming off drugs” when he was charged with Audrey Griffin’s murder and initially jailed in a glass-fronted cell before being moved into a pen with a cellmate where he took a razor to end his life, it can be revealed.

The final moments of the killer and his victim, a gifted 19-year-old athlete and navy recruit, can now be detailed by The Sunday Telegraph.

Torrens, 53, reportedly had not slept for five days after a drugs binge around Sydney, where he was arrested after going on the run for almost a month, and then charged with murder.

He was locked in a glass-fronted single cell and placed under 24-hour surveillance by a special risk intervention team.

After several sessions with counsellors he was moved into a shared cell, where he told the inmate he needed to borrow a razor to shave for a court case the next morning. The courtrooms were closed for Anzac Day public holiday.

Adrian Torrens, 53, had gone on a month-long drugs binge Audrey Griffin on The Central Coast. Picture: Facebook

Prison officers at maximum-security correctional facility the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre (MRRC) had issued him with prison greens that cannot be torn to minimise risk of suicide as he withdrew from drugs.

He took his life with a twin blade razor that was to be traded back to prison staff for a fresh one.

Several officers, later helped by paramedics, fought to revive him in the cell.

Torrens was pronounced dead at 4.50pm on Thursday, April 24, and his body was not moved until he was formally identified by an Indigenous relative, in line with cultural sensitivities.

Hours of CCTV footage are now being analysed to piece together his final moments for a report for the coroner, who will check for any breaches of care as part of a public inquest.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by staff or inmates at the maximum correctional facility at the Silverwater Prison complex.

“The officers went above and beyond to save his life,” one prison officer said.

Another said: “He was 53 years, which is considered elderly for an Aboriginal inmate coming off drugs.

“Any human that does not sleep for five days is on drugs.”

Audrey’s parents say they will never get closure now her killer has suicided. Pictures: Supplied

Mum Kathleen Kirby, pictured with Audrey as a youngster, says she has lost her ‘best friend’.

At the time that Torrens had died, a vigil in memory of Audrey was winding down on Terrigal Beach.

Her mother, Kathleen Kirby, took a call from police announcing his death as she was leaving.

Ms Kirby, a clothing boutique owner, and Audrey’s father Trevor, say they now cannot seek justice in the courtroom for the vicious killing of their daughter.

Audrey had left Hotel Gosford about 2am and walked along The Entrance Road for an hour towards her father’s house, hoping to flag down a taxi.

She was found in Erina Creek at 3.34pm.

Her father arrived at the same time as officers and found his daughter’s body face down in the blue green algae water.

“Imagine what that was like, having to identify your own daughter?” he said.

A month later Torrens was arrested at home in Sydney’s Surry Hills after a tip-off from an associate.

The plaque on Audrey’s coffin.

Audrey, pictured as a young child.

Police allege Audrey was killed during a “physical altercation” with Torrens, who was intent on inflicting anger on his estranged wife Michelle for taking out an AVO on him.

Ms Torrens lives 11km from the creek, and says she now lives in fear for her own safety.

“He was coming for me that night,” she told The Sunday Telegraph.

“He called me at midnight, and 12 times that day. He threatened me and the children.

“He took Audrey instead, my heart goes out to her family.

“I fear retaliation from his (Torrens) associates.

“I didn’t know what was going on in his mind that night.

“I am struggling to accept that I survived and Audrey didn’t.”

Michelle Torrens believes her estranged husband Adrian was heading for her the night he killed Audrey Griffin. Picture: Supplied

Two months before Audrey’s murder, on January 16, Sydney’s Downing Centre handed out a two-year AVO prohibiting Torrens from stalking, assaulting or threatening his estranged wife, or recklessly destroying her property, or harming her two dogs.

The AVO was to expire on July 15, 2026.

Kathleen Kirby says she is a shadow of herself since losing her daughter.

Torrens had avoided jail when he was sentenced last October for using a carriage service to harass, menace or offend his wife, breaching an earlier AVO.

He pleaded guilty, but NSW Chief Magistrate Judge Michael Allen imposed an 18-month community corrections order.

Mrs Torrens was unaware of his violent past when she married him in 2022.

He had already breached an AVO from a previous partner. He had stomped on her chest, broken her arm and threatened to kill her with a knife.

He had been jailed for theft, fraud, assault, intimidation and twice breaching an AVO, in 2014 and in 2018.

Without Torrens to explain himself Ms Kirby feels lost without her daughter.

“She was my best friend, a better version of myself,” she said.

“Anger is not the answer, this is now my time to grieve.”

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]

Originally published as Last details revealed: Audrey Griffin’s killer Adrian Torrens was coming off month-long drug binge