Paperboy, 17, with a vampire obsession murdered a 90-year-old woman, ripped out her heart and drank her blood in a bid to become immortal, new documentary reveals
- Matthew Hardman, then 17, carried out the grusome murder in Anglesey, Wales
- He broke into Mabel Leyshon’s bungalow, ripping out heart and drinking blood
- A Channel 5 documentary, The Kids Who Kill, series 1, episode 4, features
Matthew Hardman (pictured), then 17, broke into widow Mabel Leyshon’s bungalow in Anglesey before carrying one of the most gruesome murders in UK legal history
A teenage paperboy with a vampire obsession, who ripped out a 90-year-old woman’s heart and drank her blood, is the latest murderer to feature in Channel 5 series The Kids Who Kill.
Matthew Hardman, then 17, broke into Mabel Leyshon’s bungalow in Anglesey, North Wales, before carrying one of the most gruesome murders in UK legal history in a bid to become immortal.
The documentary explores how Hardman stabbed Ms Leyshon 22 times, cut open her chest to remove her heart, and drank the blood from it before putting the saucepan on a silver platter by her feet and next to two pokers laid out in a cross shape.
Ms Leyshon’s body was found two days later in December 2001, shocking officers from North Wales Police – who saw five or six murders a year – to their core.
Hardman had previously attacked a German exchange student after she refused to bite him on the neck to make him immortal, the Sunday Express reports.
The violent offender told police that old people were the sort to have their blood drunk by vampires. It transpired that he had been smoking cannabis and had searched the Internet for ‘vampires, gothic flesh eating and other macabre things’.
The Kids Who Kill documentary, exploring gruesome crimes, is being shown on Channel 5
Mabel Leyshon (pictured with her dog Bibi) was stabbed 22 times, before Hardman – who had been smoking cannabis – ripped out her heart and drank her blood
Det Sgt Iestyn Davies said Hardman had ‘this deep-rooted insanity’, adding: ‘He believed if he murdered this old lady of 90, disembowelled her, ripped her heart out and drank her blood, he would be a vampire for ever.’
The officer added: ‘Now, to believe that is insane.
‘He was one of the most violent evil offenders that I have dealt with.’
Hardman was convicted and jailed for life after three hours’ deliberations.
Det Supt Jones said: ‘If he had got away with it, if we had not discovered him, he could have gone on and committed further horrendous crimes.’
The Kids Who Kill is being shown on Channel 5.