- Jul 12, 2003
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'Movie vampire told me to kill'
A man accused of murdering his friend has told a court how he "wanted to go out and murder people" after watching a vampire film about 100 times.
Allan Menzies, 22, claimed that he was ordered to kill Thomas McKendrick by a character in the movie Queen Of The ******.
He said at the High Court in Edinburgh that he was told he would be rewarded with immortality and become a vampire "in the next life".
Mr Menzies said he was visited in his West Lothian home by the female vampire Akasha, who was played in the film by the late US singer Aaliyah.
He was giving evidence on the sixth day of his trial.
Bedroom visits
Mr Menzies denies killing Mr McKendrick, who he had known since he was four years old, on 11 December last year and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
The jury has been told that his offer to plead guilty to culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility was rejected by the Crown.
Mr Menzies, from Fauldhouse, said Akasha visited him in his bedroom.
"In general terms, she started off having conversations with me and it ended up that I had basically agreed with her that if I murdered people I would be rewarded in the next life," he said.
I heard it in my mind, basically, that the two of them were plotting to kill me
Allan Menzies
"I would be made immortal in the next life - a vampire, basically."
He said that he believed Mr McKendrick and another friend, Stuart Unwin, wanted to kill him.
"I heard it in my mind, basically, that the two of them were plotting to kill me," he said.
Mr Menzies told the court he had killed Mr McKendrick using a bowie knife, a kitchen knife and a hammer.
But he said his father Thomas and Mr Unwin had been responsible for disposing of the body.
He said he had not told the police about this to protect his father.
State hospital
Mr Menzies told the court that Akasha had continued to visit him after the killing, but he rejected demands that he kill more people.
He also said the film character had visited him at Carstairs, where he has been a patient for five months.
Mr Menzies said he was "disappointed" that there were no other vampires in the state hospital.
Earlier, two psychiatrists said that Menzies was not suffering from a severe mental illness at the time of the attack.
Personality disorder
Defence counsel Donald MacLeod suggested his client suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.
However, that was rejected by consultant forensic psychiatrists Derek Chiswick and Colin Gray.
Dr Chiswick, 58, said he believed Mr Menzies suffered from an "anti-social personality disorder".
But he said it was "extremely unlikely" that he was a paranoid schizophrenic.
The trial continues.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3168520.stm
A man accused of murdering his friend has told a court how he "wanted to go out and murder people" after watching a vampire film about 100 times.
Allan Menzies, 22, claimed that he was ordered to kill Thomas McKendrick by a character in the movie Queen Of The ******.
He said at the High Court in Edinburgh that he was told he would be rewarded with immortality and become a vampire "in the next life".
Mr Menzies said he was visited in his West Lothian home by the female vampire Akasha, who was played in the film by the late US singer Aaliyah.
He was giving evidence on the sixth day of his trial.
Bedroom visits
Mr Menzies denies killing Mr McKendrick, who he had known since he was four years old, on 11 December last year and attempting to defeat the ends of justice.
The jury has been told that his offer to plead guilty to culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility was rejected by the Crown.
Mr Menzies, from Fauldhouse, said Akasha visited him in his bedroom.
"In general terms, she started off having conversations with me and it ended up that I had basically agreed with her that if I murdered people I would be rewarded in the next life," he said.
I heard it in my mind, basically, that the two of them were plotting to kill me
Allan Menzies
"I would be made immortal in the next life - a vampire, basically."
He said that he believed Mr McKendrick and another friend, Stuart Unwin, wanted to kill him.
"I heard it in my mind, basically, that the two of them were plotting to kill me," he said.
Mr Menzies told the court he had killed Mr McKendrick using a bowie knife, a kitchen knife and a hammer.
But he said his father Thomas and Mr Unwin had been responsible for disposing of the body.
He said he had not told the police about this to protect his father.
State hospital
Mr Menzies told the court that Akasha had continued to visit him after the killing, but he rejected demands that he kill more people.
He also said the film character had visited him at Carstairs, where he has been a patient for five months.
Mr Menzies said he was "disappointed" that there were no other vampires in the state hospital.
Earlier, two psychiatrists said that Menzies was not suffering from a severe mental illness at the time of the attack.
Personality disorder
Defence counsel Donald MacLeod suggested his client suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.
However, that was rejected by consultant forensic psychiatrists Derek Chiswick and Colin Gray.
Dr Chiswick, 58, said he believed Mr Menzies suffered from an "anti-social personality disorder".
But he said it was "extremely unlikely" that he was a paranoid schizophrenic.
The trial continues.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/3168520.stm
