When Netflix released ‘Don't F**K with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer’ five years ago, the show was an instant hit.
The story of murderer and kitten killer Luka Magnotta became one of the streaming platform’s most-watched documentaries in 2019.
But a court heard yesterday (Wednesday, February 7) how the series also inspired a gruesome cat-killing in Oxford.
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At a murder trial at Oxford Crown Court into the death of Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, lawyers claimed 25-year-old suspect Scarlet Blake had butchered a neighbours' cat three months before the alleged killing in Oxford in 2021.
Blake, of Crotch Crescent, Marston, was described as having a “fixation with violence” after live-streaming herself dissecting the rescue feline while it was still alive, the court heard.
The 20-minute video, which was too gruesome to be shown to the jury, also shows her removing the eyes and skin of the cat - once dead - and putting it in a blender.
Audio from the video was played in court in which the song True Faith by New Order could be heard playing loudly.
It is the same song Magnotta played when he filmed himself stabbing university student Jun Lin to death in Montreal, Canada, in 2012.
The Netflix documentary on the case focuses on internet sleuths who hunt down Magnotta after he also filmed himself killing two kittens.
The court heard Blake had taken inspiration from the show, using food and a crate to catch the pet before taking it home and killing it.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said the defendant could be heard in the video saying: "It's worth it. Oh boy. Good song this is.
"I just rip this, no, that's connected...well I wonder where I learn how to do this to a person."
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Ms Morgan said the defendant also comments: "Here we go my little friend, oh boy you smell like s***, I can't wait (indistinguishable)...to put you through the blender."
A vet who spoke to the court said the pet would have felt pain for “at least three minutes, probably longer” before it died.
Ms Morgan said the killing of the “loved family cat” showed Blakes’ “extreme interest in violence and harm”.
She said it was why Blake “targeted” Mr Carreno as he walked home from a night-out on July 25, 2021.
Mr Carreno, a Spanish BMW plant worker, was seen meeting an unknown figure in Radcliffe Square before walking off with them.
Just over 24 hours later, his body was discovered face down in Parsons Pleasure, a bathing spot in University Parks.
The jury was also shown footage of Blake strangling her partner in a sexual act to demonstrate her “fascination with violence”.
Blake has pleaded not guilty to murder.
The trial continues.
Additional reporting by Gee Harland
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