Cat killer Scarlet Blake who ‘revelled’ in murder jailed for life

Scarlet Blake, 26, singled out Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, as he walked home from a night out in Oxford in July 2021, before brutally attacking him.

She 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.

Prosecutors said Blake, who is transgender, killed Mr Martin Carreno because she had a “fixation with violence and with knowing what it would be like to kill someone”.

His murder came four months after Blake live-streamed the sadistic killing of a cat, Oxford Crown Court heard.

Blake told the family pet: “Here we go my little friend. Oh boy, you smell like shit. I can’t wait to put through the blender.”

After the violent killing, she dissected the animal, removed its fur and skin, and placed its body in a blender.

During the horrific video, the New Order song True Faith plays in the background, which the court heard was in homage to the Netflix documentary Don’t F*** With Cats, in which a man kills kittens before filming the murder of a human.

Blake “boasted” about the killing with others and “her desire to open up a person like her ‘little cat friend’”.

The prosecution said Blake had an “extreme interest in death and in harm” and got sexual gratification from violence and killings.

Jurors watched a disturbing video of Blake consensually tying a ligature around her then partner’s neck from behind and pulling it tight, until she appears to fall unconscious.

The court heard BMW worker Mr Martin Carreno had been out with work colleagues in Oxford city centre and was trying to get home when Blake found him sitting down in the street.

She was captured on CCTV prowling the streets of Oxford looking for a victim, wearing a heavy military-style hooded jacket, face mask and carrying a rucksack.

Prosecutors suggested she was carrying a “murder kit” in her rucksack, including a garrotte and leopard print dressing gown cord.

Blake denied she was looking for a victim and had gone for a walk because she could not sleep, and did not know how Mr Martin Carreno died.

The defendant confessed to former partner Ashlynn Bell, who lives in the US, that she had killed him with a homemade garrotte before throwing his body in the water.

She told jurors she had made up the details of the killing because Ms Bell wanted her to kill someone after making her live-stream the killing of the cat.

During her evidence Blake claimed she had a fragmented personality, which included being a cat, and meowed at the jury to show how she would interact with friends.

The defendant, of Crotch Crescent, Oxford, was convicted of murder last week following a three-week trial.

Richard Sutton KC, defending, offered no personal mitigation on behalf of Blake and said she may never be released from prison.

“She still maintains her innocence,” he said.

“The real motivation behind this was not to get sexual gratification but to get acceptance for what she had done – killing the cat and the murder.”

Mr Martin Carreno was a triplet and his mother and two brothers were in court to see Blake jailed.

His brother Gerardo said: “Throughout this trial, Scarlet Blake has shown no remorse for her actions, compounding our grief and making it even more difficult for us to process the barbarities and cruelties she has inflicted.

“Her arrogance is palpable, and her lack of empathy is evident in her disrespect for our grief as we mourn the loss of a beloved son and brother.”

Trial judge Mr Justice Chamberlain imposed a life sentence and told Blake she would serve at least 24 years’ imprisonment before she could apply for parole.

“Your decision to kill Jorge was not a reaction to something he had said or done. It was not a momentary mistake,” the judge said.

“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.

“The messages you sent before and after July 25 2021 show an obsession with harm and death.”

The judge said the Netflix documentary had “played a part in cementing in your own mind the link between killing a cat and killing a person”.

“Whatever role Ashlynn Bell may have played in encouraging your interest in killing, she remained in the US,” he said.

“You decided to kill someone because you believed Ashlynn Bell would find it sexually exciting, as in fact she did.

“As you later said to another partner, you killed ‘because my lover said it’d be hot’.

“There was, therefore, a clear sexual motivation for the killing. I am sure you did derive pleasure from killing Jorge, as you had from killing the cat.

“You revelled in what you had done, returning at least twice to the scene to take photographs, and made conscious use of your status as a murderer to secure the admiration of others who shared your interests in harm, death and killing.”

The judge also imposed concurrent sentences of four months’ imprisonment for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and two months’ imprisonment for criminal damage relating to the killing of the cat.

Detective Superintendent Jon Capps, who led the investigation, described the case as “truly disturbing”.

“The acts Blake has been convicted of are barbaric and chilling. The murder was premeditated with total disregard and distain for life,” Mr Capps said.

“There can be no beginning to understanding this senseless act.”

The Ministry of Justice confirmed Blake was being held at a male prison.