Woman Who Identifies as Female Receives Life Sentence for Murdering Stranger after Torturing Cat

A China-born man who identifies as a woman has been sentenced to a minimum of 24 years in prison for the murder of an intoxicated stranger after a night out in Oxford.

Scarlet Blake, 26, was found guilty of murdering Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, in Oxford in the early hours of July 25, 2021.

Blake had a “murder kit” in his backpack and deliberately chose the first weekend nightclubs reopened after COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were lifted.

Blake led Mr. Carreno to a secluded spot called Parsons Pleasure, where he hit him over the head with a vodka bottle, strangled him, and then pushed him into the river Cherwell where he drowned.

Four months prior to the murder, Blake livestreamed the torture of a cat in an attempt to imitate Luka Magnotta, a Canadian model convicted of murder whose story was featured in a Netflix documentary.

Blake was given a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 24 years in prison.

Blake, currently in a men’s prison, also received a concurrent sentence of four months for admitting to animal cruelty.

Killing Cat Was Preparation for Murder

Mr. Justice Chamberlain remarked on the cat incident, saying, “There was clear premeditation. Killing a person was already in your thoughts before the cat incident, as evidenced by your statement, ‘I wonder where I learn to do this to a person.'”

The judge described the murder as involving significant planning.

“Between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., you knew you had a chance of encountering a vulnerable person; that’s why you chose that time to walk into central Oxford,” said Mr. Justice Chamberlain.

He went on to explain, “Your selection of him was calculated. CCTV footage showed you sizing up potential victims. You selected him because he appeared vulnerable, smaller, and more fragile than you, and had consumed alcohol.”

The court learned that Blake was born in China and moved to Britain as a child. At 12 years old, he began identifying as a girl and had been taking medication to block testosterone since age 17, in addition to estrogen supplements.

Blake was diagnosed with depression at a young age and had a fragmented personality.

During testimony, Blake stated, “There’s a part of me that is like a cat, which is odd and seems to represent the happy side of me. It emerges when I’m happy, and with close friends who are aware of this side of me, I greet them with a meow.”

The trial revealed that Blake was in a relationship with Ashlynn Bell, an American man who also identifies as a woman, at the time of the murder.

Blake had watched the Netflix documentary “Don’t [Expletive] With Cats,” detailing Magnotta’s crimes, which included murdering and dismembering a Chinese national, Jun Lin, in Toronto in 2012. Magnotta had previously posted a video online of himself torturing and killing a kitten.

Four months prior to his crime, Blake replicated the cat torture and even played the same song used by Magnotta in the background.

‘Elaborate Attempt to … Shift Responsibility’

While passing sentence, Mr. Justice Chamberlain told Blake, “You claimed in court that you had no desire to harm any living being, let alone a person, and it was Ashlynn who pressured you to do so. You blamed your morbid interests on a fragmented or dissociative personality, using psychiatric terminology.”

He added, “You assumed a cat persona. You discussed the challenges you faced after transitioning to live as a woman since childhood and your strained relationship with your parents. This was all part of an elaborate effort to justify your actions and shift blame onto others.”

The judge emphasized, “Regardless of any influence Ashlynn Bell may have had in encouraging your violent interests, she was in the U.S. and did not control or direct you. Even if part of your decision was to please her, the decision to kill was yours alone.”

Prosecutor Alison Morgan, KC, stated that Blake had a fixation on violence and aspired to know what it felt like to kill someone.

Hayley Garey of the Crown Prosecution Service remarked, “These were exceedingly gruesome and cruel offenses. It was a complex case, but once Scarlet Blake was linked to the victim on the night of his death, we were able to build a case based on medical and forensic evidence that led to a murder conviction.”

PA Media contributed to this report.