Scarlet Blake found guilty of Jorge Carreno's murder

Scarlet Blake, 26, was found guilty of murdering Jorge Martin Carreno today (February 23) at Oxford Crown Court by a twelve-strong jury.

The trial heard that Blake, who is a transwoman, had been ‘looking for a victim’ in the early hours of July 25, 2021 before coming across Mr Martin Carreno in Radcliffe Square.

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After walking together to Parsons Pleasure, a popular naked-male bathing spot, the prosecution said Blake knocked the Spanish man unconscious with a vodka bottle before strangling him and pushing him into the water.

Jorge Martin Carreno (Image: Family handout)

Blake denied the offence and claimed that, though she was with Mr Martin Carreno that night, she had left him there alive.

However, after almost six hours of deliberations, the jury rejected her version of events and found her guilty.

Blake made no reaction as the verdict was read out.

Before the trial, Blake had already pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing her neighbour's cat, Starlet. She live-streamed the dissection and mutilation of the animal to her girlfriend at the time, Ashlynn Bell, who lives in America.

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Blake said Miss Bell had told her to kill the cat, due to her ‘obsession’ with killing animals. The song ‘True Faith’ by New Order could be heard playing in a loop during the livestream which the prosecution said was a link to the Netflix documentary, ‘Don’t F*** With Cats’.

The true crime documentary followed murderer Luke Magnotta who, after recording himself killing kittens, recorded himself killing Jun Lin with that same song playing in the background.

Blake alleged that Miss Bell had then told her to kill a person after the livestream of the cat, leading her to make a confession to killing Mr Martin Carreno, which she had claimed was a lie.  

She had claimed she was fearful of punishments from Miss Bell if she did not ‘obey’ her orders.

Scarlet Blake (Image: Newsquest)

The court also heard that Blake had an ‘obsession’ with violence and harm, including an interest in strangulation for sexual gratification.

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Videos were played of Blake strangling her ex-fiancee, Evie Brockman, as well as pictures shared from her phone with included instructions on ‘how to strangle your partner safely’.

Also in her phone were messages from Blake telling Miss Bell that she wanted to kill her parents one day as well as general messages expressing her ‘need’ for blood, like ‘her little cat friend’.

A sentencing will take place on Monday 26.