2:55pm UK, Friday August 02, 2002

A teenager who killed an elderly woman and drank her blood because he wanted to be a vampire has been found guilty of murder.

The 17-year-old has been sentenced to serve at least 12 years.

SP Mathew Hardman PA New

Mathew Hardman

Mathew Hardman butchered 90-year-old Mabel Leyshon at her bungalow in Llanfair, Anglesey, to satisfy his desire to 'become immortal'.

Hardman ripped her chest open and removed her heart. He wrapped it in newspaper and placed it in a saucepan on top of a silver platter, then drank blood from the saucepan in an occult ritual.

Inverted cross

Pokers were left at her feet in the shape of either a cross or inverted cross, a jury at Mold Crown Court was told.

Roger Thomas QC, prosecuting, said Hardman wanted to learn how to become a vampire and how to become immortal.


"He had decided what he had to do - a sacrifice - the murder of another human being was necessary to achieve his ends."

'Compelling evidence'

Judge, Mr Justice Richards said: "You have been convicted by the jury on the strength of the most compelling evidence.

"The horrific nature of this murder was plain to all. It was a vicious and sustained attack on a vulnerable old lady in her own home, aggravated by the mutilation of her body after she had been killed."

The youth, an art student, denied murdering Mrs Leyshon in November last year, claiming he was home alone on the day of the killing.