This page consists of various news articles that focus on Vampirism. The point of reproducing these news articles here is not to glorify what is reported but rather to serve as a warning of how such an interest, that many feel is just "a bit of harmless fun", can spiral out of control for some people and lead to more sinister things.

BBC News, Teenager guilty of 'vampire' murder. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2166683.stm)

A teenager has been found guilty of the "savage" murder of a 90-year-old widow at her north Wales home. The judge at Mold Crown Court recommended that Mathew Hardman should serve a minimum of 12 years.

As the jury returned a unanimous verdict, the 17-year-old wept in the dock and his mother shrieked and sobbed in the public gallery. Mabel Leyshon was stabbed to death at her home in Llanfairpwll on Anglesey, in November 2001. Hardman - who had lived just a few yards away and had been Mrs Leyshon's paper boy - mutilated her body before placing pokers at her feet in the shape of a cross. Her heart had been removed, wrapped in newspaper and placed in a saucepan on a silver platter next to her body. The prosecution said her killer drank her blood in a "macabre ritual".

After the verdict was delivered, the judge lifted a ban on naming Hardman which had been in place throughout the trial. The prosecution said the teenager - who denied the charge - was obsessed with vampires and the occult, and had told others he wanted to kill someone in order to become immortal.

The 14-day hearing was told how he smashed his way into Mrs Leyshon's bungalow where he was watching television. He stabbed her 22 times. DNA found at the murder scene matched that of blood found on a knife at Hardman's home.

The court was told of an incident two months before Mrs Leyshon's murder, when Hardman had accused a 16-year-old German girl of being a vampire. Claiming she was "one of them", he begged the student to bite his neck so that he too could become a vampire. When she refused, he became violent and began insisting, pressing his neck against her mouth. Eventually the girl had to summon help.

The prosecution also outlined how Hardman had surfed the internet for vampire websites and had read a magazine which featured an article on how to conduct a black mass.

The teenager denied being "obsessed", and told that court that his alleged fascination with vampires was nothing more than a "subtle interest".

Sentencing Hardman, Mr Justice Richards ordered that he be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure - a life sentence - and ruled that he should serve a minimum of 12 years for the murder. "It was planned and carefully calculated," he said. 'Brutality' "Why you, an otherwise pleasant and otherwise well regarded young man, should act in this way is difficult to comprehend. "You had hoped for immortality. All you achieved was to brutally end another person's life and the bringing of a life sentence upon yourself."

A jury took almost four hours to reach a verdict at the end of a trial which had been so gruesome journalists had found it difficult to report.

Hardman had been living with his mother Julia, a nurse, and her partner Alan Benneyworth, a former Ministry of Defence fireman, in a bungalow in Llanfairpwll. Born and raised in Amlwch, on the north coast of Anglesey, he moved to Llanfairpwll in 1998, when he was 13 years old. That same year, his father - who had been separated from his mother - died from a massive asthma attack. Although his parents lived apart, Hardman had remained close to his father and was upset by the tragedy.

BBC News, 'Vampire' killer jailed for life. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3174214.stm).

A man who said a movie vampire drove him to kill his best friend in a frenzied attack has been jailed for life. Allan Menzies, 22, from Fauldhouse in West Lothian, claimed he was told to kill Thomas McKendrick by a character from the film Queen Of The Damned. He had denied murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice but was found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh. His offer to plead guilty to culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility had already been rejected by the Crown.

Judge Roderick Macdonald said Menzies was an "evil and dangerous psychopath" and should serve at least 18 years before he can be considered for parole. The offence took place on 11 December last year. The court was told that Menzies said he had drunk some of his victim's blood and eaten part of his head. In evidence, he said the female vampire Akasha, who was played in the film by the late US singer Aaliyah, had visited him at home. Menzies had watched the film more than 100 times and claimed he was told he would be rewarded with immortality and become a vampire "in the next life" if he carried out the killing.

The unemployed security guard had attacked Mr McKendrick with knives and a hammer after the victim had called at his home in Lanrigg Avenue on the Saturday morning. Menzies said he launched the attack after Mr McKendrick had insulted his vampire heroine. He then alleged that he had drunk some of the man's blood and eaten some of his flesh. He told the court: "At the end of the day I knew I would have to murder somebody anyway. It was the only way you could do it. If you don't murder somebody you couldn't become a vampire." Menzies said he was convinced he was now a vampire and became immortal after the killing. He dumped the victim's body in a wheely bin and took it to a shallow grave in a wood where it was found by police almost six weeks later.

A jury unanimously convicted him of the murder and of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by burying his victim's body, concealing clothing and attempting to remove bloodstains. The court heard that he was sent to a secure unit at the age of 14 after stabbing a school pupil and had attacked a family member with a knife. He was also sentenced to three years' detention for assaulting a 13-year-old boy to his severe injury at the High Court in Edinburgh in 1996.

During his trial for Mr McKendrick's murder, the jury was told that while Menzies suffered from a severe personality disorder, he was not insane. Sentencing Menzies, Judge MacDonald said: "Three psychologists have diagnosed you as a psychopath. "In my opinion you are an evil, violent and highly dangerous man who is not fit to be at liberty. "You subjected Thomas McKendrick to a savage and merciless attack. You totally lack remorse."

Speaking after the verdict Mr McKendrick's mother, Sandra French, 54, said: "We are pleased with the verdict." Her daughter Sandra-Mary McKendrick, 23, said: "He has got what he deserved."

After his client was jailed for life, solicitor Aamar Anwar said the case highlighted the social stigma surrounding mental health. "The continued taboo and the lack of understanding or support of schizophrenia and mental health in our community can only mean that tragedies like this case are more likely to happen and not less."

The judge also ordered that Menzies serves three years for attempting to defeat the aims of justice, which will run concurrently with his life imprisonment sentence.

BBC News, Vampire fans 'harassed vicar'. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3178464.stm)

Two vampire-obsessed men waged a three-month campaign of harassment against a vicar and his family, a court has been told. Scott Bower and Benjamin Lewis were said to have harassed the Reverend Christopher Rowberry, his wife, Karen, and children, Hannah, 15, and Simon, 17, in Eling, near Totton, Hampshire.

The pair, who were later joined by Mr Lewis' 19-year-old girlfriend Natalie Gibson, made howling noises from a graveyard close to the family's vicarage and made scores of abusive telephone calls, it was alleged. Mr Bower, 26, of School Road, Eling, Totton, and Mr Lewis and Ms Gibson, both of Kinross Road, Totton, deny religiously aggravated harassment between 1 October and 31 December 2002. They also are said to have set off fireworks at the vicarage and left obscene pictures on a church notice board.

When police raided Mr Lewis' home, they discovered pictures of him and Mr Bower apparently drinking each other's blood. (The harassment campaign) appears to be motivated by some hostility on the part of the defendants to the Christian religion. In a police interview Mr Lewis, 25, said: "I am a vampire and proud." James Newton-Price, prosecuting, told Southampton Crown Court the campaign against the vicar of St Mary the Virgin Church in Eling Hill started in October 2002. Mr Newton-Price said: "This conduct was aimed at the vicar and the church." "It appears to be motivated by some hostility on the part of the defendants to the Christian religion. " "It's also a rather sad case about two, perhaps in some ways, sensitive and intelligent young men who share an obsession with vampirism and the occult."

Mr Newton-Price said Mr Bower and Mr Lewis dressed in dark gothic-like clothing and Mr Lewis subscribed to magazines about vampirism. He said Ms Gibson, who is alleged to have made harassing phone calls to the vicarage in December 2002, was not obsessed with vampirism but had gone along with the other two.

The jury was shown articles from a magazine called Crimson which were written by Mr Lewis. One article said: "I am beyond the earthly understandings of humans because I am a reincarnated vampire."

The trial continues.

BBC News, 'Vampires' jailed for harassing vicar (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3270649.stm)

Two self-styled vampires have been jailed for conducting a campaign of religious harassment against a vicar and his family. Scott Bower and Benjamin Lewis were found guilty of waging the three-month campaign against the Reverend Christopher Rowberry, his wife Karen and children Hannah, 15, and Simon, 17.

Judge John Boggis QC sentenced Lewis, 25, of Kinross Road, Totton, Hampshire, to 12 months in jail and Bower, 26, of School Road, Eling, Totton, to six months. The pair were joined in the campaign by Lewis' 19-year-old girlfriend, Natalie Gibson. Gibson, also of Kinross Road, who is six months pregnant with Lewis' child, was given a three-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months.

Mr Lewis allegedly left an obscene picture of Christ on the notice board. Judge Boggis told Lewis at Southampton Crown Court: "This is a case of repeated victimisation of a man who showed you tolerance and understanding, the effect of which was to drive a wedge of fear into his family." The distress of his wife was clear for all to see. "I hope you are truly ashamed of what you did but it is clear from the pre-sentence reports that you are not."

The court heard that Lewis had an "unshakeable belief" that he was a vampire and was undergoing psychiatric treatment. He was described as the ring leader of the harassment, responsible for making obscene telephone calls which included "howling noises", screeching sounds and mechanical laughing. He also placed "truly disgusting" images on the noticeboards of St Mary The Virgin Church in Eling Hill, Totton.