Darwin's Little Helper

Man 'killed friend to become vampire'

Press Association
Tuesday October 7, 2003 12:18 AM

A man has told a court how he brutally killed his lifelong friend because he believed it would guarantee him immortality.

Allan Menzies, 22, told the High Court in Edinburgh he was now a vampire after killing 21-year-old Thomas McKendrick on December 11 last year and drinking his blood.

Menzies, of Fauldhouse, West Lothian, told how he had killed McKendrick - who he had known since he was four - and drunk two cupfuls of his blood after being told to do so by a character from the vampire movie 'Queen of the Dammed'. Menzies denies murdering Mr McKendrick and attempting to defeat the ends of justice. The jury has been told that Menzies offered a plea of guilty to culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility but that was rejected by the Crown.

The former security guard told how he had become obsessed with the film 'Queen of the Damned', in which the late US singer Aaliyah played the female vampire Akasha, and had watched it around 100 times.

He said Akasha would visit him in his bedroom and that the pair had struck a deal in which he would achieve immortality if he killed people.

Giving evidence on the sixth day of his trial, Menzies said that after killing Mr McKendrick he had drunk two cupfuls of his victim's blood and ate part of his skull.

He said that after the killing he had become the character 'Vamp'.

Menzies' defence counsel, Donald MacLeod, asked him: "Are you telling us that you now believe you are a vampire?" Menzies replied: "Yes."

His advocate then asked: "Do you believe that you will gain immortality?" Menzies said: "Yes."

Mr MacLeod then asked: "Do you believe that you achieved that by killing Thomas?", to which Menzies replied: "Yes."