COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A man who authorities said was high on methamphetamine and hadn't slept for days when he killed five people inside a home frequented by drug users was sentenced to life without parole Friday after pleading guilty to their murders.

James Douglas Drayton, 28, admitted to the October 2022 killings in Spartanburg County in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty, Solicitor Barry Barnette said in a statement.

Drayton said he would not appeal, and the life sentences for five counts of murder don't allow him to be released on parole, Barnette said.

Prosecutors didn’t give a motive for the killings. Drayton told investigators he was high and hadn’t slept for four days when he killed everyone in the home where he was staying, authorities said. All five men were shot at close range and some were still asleep as Drayton pulled the trigger, Barnette said.

No one is bigger than the monarchy. Not even the king’s brother.

In the end, that reality spelled the end of Andrew’s life as a prince of the realm.

As details of Andrew’s links to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continued to dribble out and Parliament raised questions about his rent-free residence at a sprawling country house near Windsor Castle, King Charles III moved Thursday to shield the monarchy from any further revelations.

In a statement issued by Buckingham Palace, the king said he had taken steps to strip his brother of all his titles and honors, including the one he has held since birth — prince. From now on, the scandal-plagued British royal will be known simply as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

Britain’s Prince Andrew was forced to relinquish use of his remaining royal titles after the latest revelations about his relationship with the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein proved one scandal too many for his brother, King Charles III.

Andrew’s antics have tried the patience of the royal family for more than 40 years, triggering embarrassing headlines, lawsuits and suspicions that the prince, now 65, was using his position for personal gain.

Here are some of the episodes that tarnished the reputation of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s second son and finally forced his older brother to banish him from public life.

1984 — Andrew sprays reporters and photographers with paint while touring a construction project in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. “I enjoyed that,” Andrew said, while wiping his hands on a piece of newspaper.