Woman live-streamed killing of cat before murdering man, court hears

A woman obsessed with violence and death live-streamed the sadistic killing of a cat four months before she brutally murdered a man, 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.

Oxford Crown Court heard it took two years for the events of that night to be “properly understood” and that Mr Carreno did not die from an accident or taking his own life, but at the hands of the defendant.

Prosecutors allege Blake killed Mr Carreno because she had a “fixation with violence and with knowing what it would be like to kill someone”.

Alison Morgan KC, prosecuting, told the jury: “He died because he encountered the defendant on that night.

“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 have 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.

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 shit. 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.

The defendant, of Crotch Crescent, Oxford denies murder.

The trial continues.