Horror film fan killed 4 in rampage

LONDON (Reuters) – A British horror film fanatic who wanted
to be an infamous serial killer was found guilty on Thursday of
murdering four strangers during a three-day rampage through
southern England.

Daniel Gonzalez, 25, compared his murders to those in the
film “Halloween” and told police he wanted to know what it
would be like to be “Freddy Krueger for the day” — referring
to the crazed killer from the “A Nightmare on Elm Street”
movie.

Gonzalez, who also said he wanted to carry out a massacre
similar to the 1999 killings at Columbine High School in the
United States, began his murderous spree on September 15, 2004.

He traveled to Hilsea on the south coast and tried to cut
the throat of a 67-year-old man who was out with his wife,
walking his dog.

The man fought him off but later that afternoon Gonzalez
headed up to Woking near London and stabbed to death Marie
Harding, 73, as she was out walking in a secluded area.

Early the next day, he used two knives to stab to death
46-year-old Kevin Molloy who had been out drinking in a pub in
north London.

Just an hour later, he broke into a house not far away and
tried to kill the occupant. However he ran away after the men
put up a fierce struggle.

Shortly afterwards, he bought some new knives and then went
to the home of Derek Robinson, 75, and his wife Jean, 60, and
stabbed them both to death.

He was arrested a few hours later at a station.

HEARING VOICES

Gonzalez, who had admitted two counts of attempted murder,
had denied murder, saying he was a schizophrenic and had been
under the command of voices.

But a jury at London’s Old Bailey court took just over an
hour to find him guilty of murder.

“We suggest that Gonzalez is a psychopath who killed
because of the callous, cold person that he is,” said
prosecutor Richard Horwell. “He wanted to kill for his own
personal pleasure.”

During the trial, the court heard how Gonzalez had told
doctors he went on the rampage because he was bored.

“I watched horror movies and that all the time, fantasy and
not real and that,” he had told detectives.

“I just thought about doing it, man — what would it be
like just to be maybe Freddy Krueger or something like that,
just for one day.”

Police called his murders “shocking and brutal.”

“Gonzalez admitted he was an individual intent on killing.
He was clever and manipulative and did not want to accept
responsibility for what he had done,” said Detective Chief
Inspector Dave Cobb.

“He wanted to be remembered as a famous serial killer, but
I hope he is forgotten and that we only remember his victims
and the families that survive them.”

He will be sentenced tomorrow and faces a mandatory life
jail term.