‘Sadist who tortured cat ... and then killed a stranger’
A ‘VIOLENCE- OBSESSED’ woman live-streamed the sadistic killing of a pet cat four months before she brutally murdered a man, a court has heard.
Scarlet Blake, 25, is accused of killing Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, as he walked home alone after a night-out with friends in Oxford in July 2021.
His body was found at a popular bathing spot in the River Cherwell the following day, having received what appeared to be a blow to the back of the head and then having drowned.
Prosecutors allege Blake killed Mr Carreno because she had a ‘fixation’ with ‘knowing what it would be like to kill someone’ and she derived ‘sexual gratification’ from violence and death.
Oxford Crown Court heard yesterday that Blake is also accused of torturing and killing a neighbour’s cat just months before the attack.
In an apparent nod to the hit Netflix documentary Don’t F**K with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer, the song True Faith by New Order was played during the 20-minute live stream, the jury heard.
The show, one of Netflix’s mostwatched, features attempts to catch murderer Luka Magnotta, who played the song in an 11- minute video in which he stabbed a university student to death in 2012.
Canadian Magnotta was unmasked by amateur internet sleuths who identified him through videos in which he filmed himself killing two kittens. He was convicted of murder in 2014 and sentenced to life.
The court heard Blake, who had watched the series, used food and a crate to capture the cat and take it to her home where she dissected and killed the animal. The jury was shown still images of Blake in the footage. During the video the prosecution argues that Blake can be heard saying: ‘I can’t wait to put through the blender.’ Alison Morgan KC, prosecuting, said: ‘The footage shows her to be someone who had a disturbing interest in what it would feel like to cause suffering before taking a life away.’ Ms Morgan added that Blake had allegedly ‘ boasted’ about the killing to others and spoken of ‘her desire to open up a person like her “little cat friend”’.
The court heard it took two years for the events surrounding Mr Carreno’s death to be ‘properly understood’ and that he did not die from an accident or taking his own life, but at the hands of Blake.
Ms Morgan told the jury: ‘ The defendant was out on the streets of Oxford that night looking for a victim. She targeted him and took him to [an area called] Parson’s Pleasure, where she killed him, leaving his body to be discovered by others over 24 hours later.’
Ms Morgan explained: ‘It was an interest that went beyond mere fantasy. [Blake] described herself to others as being someone who derived sexual gratification from the thought of violence and the thought of death.’
Spanish citizen Mr Carreno, who worked at the BMW plant in Oxford, had moved to the city with his girlfriend in 2019.
Blake, previously known as Alice Wang, of New Marston, denies murder. The trial continues.
‘Disturbing interest in suffering’