A woman with an ‘extreme interest in death’ live-streamed the sadistic killing of a cat four months before she murdered a man she met in a street, a court has heard.
Scarlet Blake, 25, is accused of targeting Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, as he walked home from a night-out in Oxford in July 2021.
His body was found in the River Cherwell at Parsons Pleasure having received what appeared to be a blow to the back of his head and then having drowned.
Months earlier Blake allegedly filmed herself dissecting a cat before dicing the animal in a blender. She then ‘boasted’ about the killing with others and ‘her desire to open up a person like her ‘little cat friend”, Oxford Crown Court heard.
Prosecutors allege Blake killed Mr Carreno because she had a ‘fixation with violence and with knowing what it would be like to kill someone’.
Jurors were told it took two years for the mystery of Mr Carreno’s death to be ‘properly understood’ and claimed he did not die from an accident or by taking his own life, but at the hands of the defendant.
‘He died because he encountered the defendant on that night,’ prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said.
He died because he met a person who had a fixation with violence and with knowing what it would feel like to kill someone.
‘At a time when Mr Carreno became separated from friends and perhaps lost and vulnerable, Mr Carreno had the great misfortune of being approached by this defendant in the early hours on July 25 2021.
‘The defendant was out on the streets of Oxford that night looking for a victim. She targeted him and took him to Parsons Pleasure, where she killed him, leaving his body to be discovered by others over 24 hours later.’
Ms Morgan explained that during the police investigation detectives had built up a picture of her background.
‘The prosecution alleges that this defendant had an extreme interest in death and in harm,’ she told the jury.
‘It was an interest that went beyond mere fantasy. She described herself to others as being someone who derived sexual gratification from the thought of violence and the thought of death.
‘Videos of her with one of her partners engaging in acts of strangulation, consensually, in a sexualised context.
‘She spoke to others about what it would be like to kill someone.
‘She looked at imagery and saved it on her devices that showed an interest in ligatures being applied around the neck. She talked about harming herself.’
The prosecutor went on to explain how months before the alleged murder, Blake had livestreamed the killing and dissection of a cat after watching Netflix documentary called Don’t F*** with Cats.
The court heard Blake used food and a crate to capture the cat and take it to her home where she killed the animal.
‘The defendant’s actions towards the cat show planning, in particular the purchasing of equipment necessary to do what she wanted to do to this cat, and demonstrated a fixation with what it would feel like to cause harm to others,’ Ms Morgan said.
‘They reveal her grotesque pleasure in causing harm to a cat.’
In the video, in which the New Order song True Faith plays in the background, Blake tells the cat: ‘Here we go my little friend. Oh boy, you smell like s***. I can’t wait to put through the blender.’
The prosecutor told the court: ‘After killing the cat, the defendant then went on, while still on the livestream, to dissect it.
‘This process included inserted a scalpel blade and handle into the cat’s eyes. She then removed its fur and skin, and then placed the body of the cat into a blender.
‘This is not simply about killing a defenceless animal. Its relevance to this trial is the defendant’s overall demeanour.
‘The footage shows her to be someone who had a disturbing interest in what it would be like to harm a living creature. What it would feel like to cause suffering before taking a life away.’
Blake ‘boasted’ about the killing with others and ‘her desire to open up a person like her ‘little cat friend”.
‘It is clear that in her own mind she made a connection between what it felt like to harm this cat and what it would feel like to harm a person,’ Ms Morgan said.
The court heard Blake had watched a Netflix documentary called Don’t F*** with Cats in which a man kills kittens before filming the murder of a human – while the same New Order song played in the background.
Jurors were shown videos of the defendant and her partner engaging in consensual strangulation with ligatures.
One shows her partner sat on a bed pulling the cord from the leopard print dressing gown tight around her neck until she appears to collapse and then breathe heavily as she recovers.
The second clip shows Blake pulling a white cord tight around partner’s neck from behind with her again collapsing then recovering.
Ms Morgan said: ‘There is a fascination with ligatures for sexual gratification.
‘Whatever it is about the fascination with the dressing gown, it must have been in her head and led her to take a selfie just an hour or so with that dressing gown before she found Mr Carreno.’
The court also heard Blake had allegedly discussed with her partner Mr Carreno’s murder.
Referring to being in the company of a man, Blake messaged her, saying: ‘Last time I found someone this drunk they died lol.’
The defendant, of Oxford, denies murder.
The trial was adjourned until Thursday.
