Oxford cat killer who murdered a man sentenced to life in prison

About the killer: The court learned that Blake, who previously lived as Alice Wang, immigrated to the U.K. from China at age 9. She came out to her parents as transgender at age 12. The revelation reportedly caused “great emotional distress” for both her and her parents.

Fixation with violence: The trial heard that Blake first displayed her fixation with violence months before the murder when she dissected a cat and placed it in a blender during a video livestream. Blake had earlier informed the jury about an online relationship she developed with Ashlynn Bell, another transgender woman in the U.S. Blake maintained that she harbored no desire to kill the cat, claiming it was done solely to appease Bell. She will serve four months in prison for causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and two months for criminal damage.

Cold-blooded murder: Prosecutors revealed that Carreno, a Spanish national, went out drinking with colleagues on July 25, 2021. Surveillance footage captured Blake hunting for potential victims on the streets of Oxford that night. Carreno, who was separated from his friends, then encountered Blake, who lured him to a secluded riverbank.

There, Blake struck Carreno with a vodka bottle, attempted to strangle him and ultimately shoved him into the river, where he drowned. Carreno’s body was found later with signs of neck trauma and a fatal head injury.

A family’s grief: Carreno’s two brothers, speaking in a joint statement, described their close bond with their late sibling and emphasized their “unbearable” grief. Carreno’s mother also read her heartfelt tribute during the hearing: