Vodka bottle found at scene where BMW worker was allegedly murdered, Oxford Crown court hears

A vodka bottle was found at the scene where a BMW worker was allegedly murdered by a woman obsessed with violence and death, 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 drowning.

Oxford Crown Court was previously told it took two years for the events of that night to be "properly understood".

Home Office pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer told the court he was made aware last year of the vodka bottle and videos of the defendant strangling her partner.

He had previously found Mr Carreno drowned as a result of alcohol intoxication before new evidence came to light.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC asked him: "You were being asked to consider (in a report dating from November 2023) ... items of significance from the scene, so were you made aware of the vodka bottle and the videos that were provided to you?"

He replied: "Yes."

He also told the court that he does not believe it is likely Mr Carreno could have come by an accidental death.

The pathologist ruled out the possibility that Mr Carreno died immediately after being strangled with a broad ligature or neck hold and said he drowned.

Instead, he could have been strangled with a ligature or neck hold and lost consciousness before drowning, been knocked unconscious with an object and then drowned or been held under the water.

A combination of two or more of these factors could also have caused his death but the court heard haemorrhages within his facial tissues or at the base of his tongue cannot be explained if his death was an accident, jurors were told.

If Mr Carreno's death was an accident, bruises on the back of his right shoulder and the left of his head could only have been sustained if he had fallen backwards, hit the concrete slab at the water's edge or objects at the riverbed and then rotated to be face down, the pathologist added.

Ms Morgan asked him if that would explain the haemorrhages and he replied: "No."

The court previously heard how months before the alleged murder, Blake had livestreamed the killing and dissection of a cat.

The court heard Blake used food and a crate to capture the cat and take it to her home where she killed the animal.

Ms Morgan said: "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."

Blake, of Crotch Crescent, Oxford denies murder.

The trial continues on Wednesday.