Boy, 17, 'cut out woman's heart to be a vampire'

A teenager who wanted to be a vampire cut out the heart of an elderly woman and drank her blood during a ritual killing, a court heard yesterday.

The youth aged 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of murdering Mabel Leyshon, 90, at her home in Llanfair, Anglesey. The teenager committed the "sacrifice" in November last year having read about how to become immortal and a vampire, a jury at Mold Crown Court was told.

Mrs Leyshon's chest was "ripped open" and her heart removed and wrapped in newspaper, which was placed in a saucepan on top of a silver platter. Pokers were left crossed at her feet in the shape of either a cross or inverted cross, the court heard.

Roger Thomas QC, for the prosecution, said: "This was a murder carried out to satisfy the defendant's own sadistic and selfish ends."

Mr Thomas added: "He may now deny it or seek to play it down but we submit that in November 2001 he was fascinated by and believed in vampires. He believed they existed, believed they drank human blood and believed most importantly that they could achieve immortality – and he wanted to be immortal.

"What may have started out as a bizarre interest became an obsession and led ultimately to murder."

The jury was told that the teenager, who denies murder, broke into Mrs Leyshon's house while the deaf pensioner watched television in her lounge.

He attacked her from behind, stabbing her 22 times, including one wound that was so deep he was able to tear out the victim's heart.

The teenager removed most of Mrs Leyshon's clothes and put her body in an armchair with her legs propped up on a stool. He then drained her blood into a small saucepan.

"This is an incident that a person has taken some time over and possibly enjoyed because the blood in the saucepan has dried out before the newspaper [containing the heart] is put into it," said Mr Thomas.

Earlier the barrister told the court: "By 24 November 2001, the defendant had learned quite a lot about vampires, certainly enough to satisfy his two main questions: how do I become a vampire and how do I become immortal?

"He had decided what he had to do; a sacrifice, the murder of another human being was necessary to achieve his ends. And with his parents away he committed what we submit to you was a planned, deliberate murder to satisfy his own grotesque and selfish ends," Mr Thomas said.

The youth was not insane but carried out the murder because of his obsession with vampires, Mr Thomas told the jury.

A month before the murder the teenager had been arrested after he allegedly assaulted a German exchange student who he believed was a vampire, the court heard.

While talking to the girl, aged 16, in her bedroom, the youth had allegedly pushed his neck against her mouth and begged her to bite him so he too could become a vampire.

"She screamed and her landlady ran into the room with another student and they saw the defendant forcing her on to the bed and saying 'But she's a vampire'," the court was told.

The trial continues.