Scarlet Blake, who previously pleaded guilty to a charge relating to the cat, will be sentenced on Monday
A woman obsessed with death who once livestreamed the killing of a cat has been found guilty of murdering a man.
The body of Jorge Martin Carreno was pulled from the River Cherwell in Oxford in July 2021.
Scarlet Blake, 26, was out on the streets of the city looking for a victim before meeting the 30-year-old, Oxford Crown Court heard.
She had a “fixation with violence and with knowing what it would feel like to kill someone”, the jury was told.
Blake, who previously pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage relating to the cat, will be sentenced on Monday.
Image source, Family Handout
Jorge Martin Carreno was a Spanish national working at the Oxford Mini plant
During the trial, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said Mr Martin Carreno, who was a Spanish national working at the Mini plant in the city, had been on a night out drinking with colleagues after Covid restrictions had been lifted.
He later became separated from his friends, and possibly became lost, before having the “great misfortune” of bumping into Blake.
They met at the Radcliffe Camera landmark in the city, where she offered him a bottle of vodka before she led him towards the river.
Ms Morgan said: “It was no accident that she found [Mr Martin Carreno], and no accident that she took him to a secluded location.”
The court heard she hit him over the head, attempted to strangle him, then pushed him into the water where he drowned.
Scarlet Blake was filmed on police body-worn footage saying “at least it’s not genocide”
The trial heard Blake came to the UK from China aged nine, and came out to her parents as transgender at 12.
She said it “made my father really unhappy and my mother as well” and “caused a large emotional rift”.
Blake previously told the jury about an online relationship that developed with Ashlynn Bell, another trans woman, in the US.
She said killing the cat was something she “very much didn’t want” and claimed she killed the pet to please Ms Bell and only pretended to enjoy it
But the court heard how she dissected it and put it in a blender, taking “grotesque pleasure” in doing so.
Image source, Thames Valley Police
A video of the cat killing was so graphic that it could not be shown in court in an unedited form, but stills were shown of Blake smiling at the camera
Senior investigating officer, Det Supt Jon Capps, said there had been aspects of the case which had been “truly disturbing” and jurors would be offered support due to the nature of the evidence.
He added: “This defendant showed calculated cruelty. The acts Blake has been convicted of are barbaric and chilling. The murder was premeditated with total disregard and distain for life.
“I want rather to focus on Jorge and his family and pay tribute to them and the enormous dignity they have shown throughout this ordeal.”
In a tribute, Mr Carreno’s family said he was an “exceptional being” who had an “immense desire to live and enjoy life”.
They said: “The loss of Jorge has left an open wound in the heart of his family but also in all those who had the pleasure of knowing him. This loss feels like a traumatic, devastating blow, leaving a void impossible to fill.”
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