Gouging out organs as sick mementos & dumping mutilated pets on doorsteps… inside ‘power-hungry’ minds of cat killers – The Sun

AFTER a horrific butchering spree, sicko Scarlet Blake lowered the dismembered cat’s corpse into a blender and hit the ON switch.

Within four months the 26-year-old, who is transgender, had progressed to killing a human – striking Jorge Martin Carreno over the head with a vodka bottle, strangling him and throwing him into a river.

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Blake was sentenced to life imprisonment at Oxford Crown Court last week for the chilling murder of the BMW worker in July 2021 and criminal damage.

At sentencing, Judge Mr Justice Chamberlain KC described how the killer had an “obsession with harm and death”.

Before murdering Jorge, who Blake met while walking home from a night out with friends, the monster live streamed the killing of a cat.

“Here we go my little friend. Oh boy, you smell like s***. I can’t wait to put you through the blender,” Blake is heard saying at one point during the chilling clip.

In the grotesque footage, Blake strangled the cat before removing its heart “as a memento”, stripping the animal of its fur and skin and putting it in a blender.

Later the ghoul was said to have “boasted” about the killing with others and revealed a “desire to open up a person”. That person would be a stranger named Jorge.

For Dr Naomi Murphy, who has studied the disturbing minds of cat killers, Blake’s cruel, drawn-out methods hint at a particular brand of evil.

The forensic psychologist, who co-hosts the Locked Up Living podcast, tells The Sun: “There’s a degree of sadism required to be able to kill but with any further dismemberment and mutilation, you’re looking at great disturbance in somebody.

“People may commit abhorrent acts and get excited but then regret them almost instantly after and feel disgusted or not able to do it again.

“So the amount of time it would take to kill an animal, skin it and put in blender… that is a drawn-out process.

“When people are titillated by violence and brutality, it’s generally because they have experienced other people being titillated by brutality towards them.”

As the nation recoils from Blake’s harrowing crimes, criminologists and forensic psychologists reveal what motivates the “power hungry” cult of serial cat killers.

‘Titillated by brutality’

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Last year, a serial cat killer Aleeta Raugust, 26, pleaded guilty to nine counts of animal abuse and was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.

She admitted to having tortured nine cats, of which she killed seven, after adopting them from an animal shelter in Calgary, Canada.

Raugust told police “sometimes I named them” before hurting the animals, which Dr Murphy says could indicate someone who needed a personal connection to her victims.

She said: “To me, there’s a sense of developing a personal relationship with those animals and then enjoying having the ultimate power over that living being’s life.

“That’s all part of picture of someone who is a sadist – the closer the relationship, the more enjoyment of the pain inflicted.”

In court, Raugust revealed she choked to death a cat named Zeus because she didn’t want it to be scared of her.

She had been sliced from the neck all the way down… Foxes don’t carry knives

Cat owner Hayley Gray

Dr Emma Cunningham, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of East London, told us this was a sign of someone who “refused to accept responsibility” for their actions.

She added: “She spoke about her response to the animal and that the animal was afraid of her – it’s like she’s diverting responsibility for what she has done.

“It’s the same with the Scarlet Blake case, this perpetrator said it was about their identity and trouble with their family, but actually it’s about what they have undertaken, regardless of those things.

“I think for some perpetrators of violent offences, they don’t want to take responsibility for their actions and therefore will always be looking for a way out of that or some kind of excuse to blame it away.”

Croydon cat killer

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Between 2014 and 2018, hundreds of dead mutilated cats were discovered across South London and it was believed to be the work of one sick individual.

Initially, the figure was dubbed ‘the Croydon Cat Killer’ before being renamed the M25 Killer and later the UK Cat Killer.

The animals were often found decapitated and with their tails cut off.

In many of the cases, they were discovered outside their owners’ homes and sometimes on their doorstep.

Outrage over the supposed killings led the Metropolitan Police to launch an investigation called Operation Takahe, which reported the killings were “probably” caused by foxes.    

Amateur animal sleuths doubted the 2018 findings yet no individual behind the suspected attacks has been named by authorities.

At the time, cat owner Hayley Gray said her pet Squiggles was left with no ears, a tail and was missing a back leg when she was found dead.

She told the Daily Mail: “She had been sliced from the neck all the way down… Foxes don’t carry knives.” 

If the UK Cat Killer was real, the way they presented the bodies of the victims could tell us a lot, according to Dr Murphy.

She said this hinted at a desire to “shock, lash out or harm” and potentially to witness the owner discovering their deceased pet for gratification.

The distress they have caused would allow them to feel powerful and victorious

Dr Murphy

Dr Murphy tells us: “People who commit acts of extreme violence, like this, feel marginalised by the community and often have been excluded early on in life or their teen years and often have a history of school exclusion and so on.

“In a way, it’s like giving a finger to the world, ‘You don’t care about me so f*** you, society’s rules won’t apply to me’.

“Rather than feeling vulnerable and marginalised, it’s easier to feel powerful and feel that by kicking back at authority and society’s norms and rules.”

Dr Murphy explains that some individuals would find it “particularly satisfying” to watch an owner discover their dead pet.

“It would be exciting for them and boost their sense of power. The distress they have caused would allow them to feel powerful and victorious.

“It’s a distorted way to look at the world but if they feel like they are a nobody, nothing and don’t matter, rather than sink into pain they may try to push that back on society.” 

Sinister attacks

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Not long after Operation Takahe wrapped up in 2018, Steven Bouquet went on a feline killing rampage.

He was later dubbed ‘the Brighton cat killer‘ and was found guilty of 16 offences of criminal damage, in relation to the pets, and possession of a knife.

In 2021, the former security guard was jailed for five years and three months for the string of attacks, but died just months into his sentence.

Brits were soon on high alert again when Georgina Barnes warned of a sick cat mutilator prowling the streets of Norwich.

That same year, would-be serial killer David Iwo battered a trusting pensioner to death with a hammer after tricking his way into his home. 

When cops finally caught him, he boasted he would have killed more people – having nurtured his bloodlust by slashing family pets like Georgina’s and leaving them for dead.

If you want the ears, I can tell you where they are

Killer David Iwo

Speaking to The Sun at the time, Georgina said she feared that maiming cats was “a practice run for something more sinister” after Iwo sliced off her cat Bubba’s ears. 

She said: “I know it wasn’t my fault but I can’t help wondering if I could have done more to stop him.”

Iwo pleaded guilty to murder but was later accused of five animal cruelty charges – including the attack on Bubba – plus two counts of attempted theft of cats.

He refused to enter pleas and instead told the court: “I don’t care about this case. F**k your cats.”

He went on to boast of mutilating as many as 30, and crowed: “If you want the ears, I can tell you where they are.”

In 2021, Iwo was jailed for life with a minimum of 33 years. 

Fuelling the flames

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In the era of streaming, plenty of graphic and true crime docuseries have made their way into the mainstream.

In 2019, Netflix released its three-part series Don’t F**K With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer.

The documentary followed one of Canada’s most infamous crimes – the murder of Lin Jun, who was killed by sick adult star Luka Magnotta.

The monster courted internet infamy before the murder by circulating videos of himself killing kittens, which led to a group of amateur sleuths launching a manhunt.

In 2010, Magnotta even shared a video of himself suffocating two kittens in a plastic bag using a vacuum cleaner. Eventually he was caught and jailed for life.

However, Dr Murphy warned that glossy TV dramas giving exposure to these heinous crimes could be a double-edged sword.

She said: “It’s uncomfortable to think that people love reading about salacious details of crime. They love being disgusted and frightened the same way they would enjoy horror films but actually that’s part of the motivation of these people.

“And TV programmes are feeding that.

“In cases where a person is sadistic and are titillated by the need to shock, naming them and giving more press converge really fuels the excitement.

“It’s very satisfying and they want to shock people to get all of this attention.

“I think it creates a moral quandary for journalists – you want to cover interesting stories but on the other hand the fascination with someone titillated by violence just feeds their psychopathology.”

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