A self-confessed ‘vampire’ who butchered his friend and drank his blood alongside his wife is set to be freed next week, and may be heading to the UK.
Daniel Ruda, 41, and his then-wife Manuela stabbed a 33-year-old man to death as a ‘Satanic sacrifice’ in their home in Bochum, west Germany, in 2001.
Ruda and his ex-wife would spend their holidays in England and Scotland where they enjoyed sleeping in graveyards and attending satanic parties.
Murderer: Daniel Ruda, 41, pictured left last month with his lawyer, stabbed a 33-year-old man to death and drank his blood in 2001
Ruda, a car part salesman, stabbed Frank Hackert 66 times on a coffin he and his wife used as a coffee table in their home in Bochum.
The couple said they had chosen their victim for sacrifice because he was ‘so funny and would be the perfect court jester for Satan’.
Both Ruda and Manuela drank Hackert’s blood once he was dead. Ruda was sentenced to 16 years in jail for the murder, and Manuela 13.
She has since been freed from a psychiatric unit but is still receiving treatment. She has been given a new identity and has no further contact with Ruda.
Earlier this year, Ruda was cleared of attempted murder, following allegations he had tried to hire an assassin to kill Manuela.
Free: Ruda, pictured in 2002,has now served his 16-year sentence and is set to be released
Ruda and his ex-wife Manuela would spend their holidays in England and Scotland where they enjoyed sleeping in graveyards and attending devil worshipper parties
Ruda, a car part salesman, stabbed Frank Hackert 66 times on a coffin he and his wife used as a coffee table in their home in Bochum
Ruda, who worked as a librarian at a prison near Dortmund, petitioned last year to be allowed to rejoin society.
His lawyer Hans Reinhardt said at the time: ‘We want to show that he is not a dangerous man. In jail he takes no drugs, drinks no alcohol. His mother, who is 75, visits him regularly. She has only one wish; to see her son free before she dies.
‘He wants to rejoin society, find a wife, settle down and have a family.
‘It is right that he be allowed to rejoin society. This decision is long overdue.’
Doris Hackert, mother of the victim said: ‘I hope they don’t let him out. I am not well. I am psychiatrically shattered. I cry a lot. It would be a nightmare for me if they let him out.’
Her husband Hermann Hackert said after he heard the news of his impending freedom: ‘He will be walking into a bright future and I will only be walking into the cemetery to visit my son.’