Cat killer jailed for life for murdering man as part of a sexual fantasy

A cat killer obsessed with violence and death has been jailed for life with a minimum of 24 years behind bars after being convicted of murdering a man she deliberately targeted as part of a sexual fantasy.

- Jamie Grierson

Scarlet Blake, 26, targeted Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, as he walked home from a night out in Oxford in July 2021.

Blake, who is a transgender woman, led him to a secluded riverbank, where he was hit on the back of the head with a vodka bottle, strangled and then pushed into the River Cherwell, where he drowned.

Sentencing Blake yesterday at Oxford crown court, Mr Justice Chamberlain said: "Your decision to kill Jorge was not a reaction to something he had said or done. It was not a momentary mistake. It was not a decision made in anger, or because your emotions overcame you. It was the culmination of a plan you had been considering and formulating for months." Prosecutors said Blake killed Carreno, a BMW worker because she had a "fixation with violence and with knowing what it would be like to kill someone". During evidence, she claimed she had a fragmented personality, which included being a cat and miaowed at the jury to show how she would interact with friends.

The murder came four months after Blake had live-streamed the horrific killing of her neighbour's cat.

Blake used cat food and a cat carrier to lure the pet. Setting up a tripod and camera, she suspended the cat with a ribbon before cutting it open.