Ritual murder accused 'well behaved'

The teenager charged with the 'ritual' killing of a 90-year-old Anglesey woman has been described by one of his teachers as a "well behaved boy with a good sense of humour".

For the past 11 days, a jury at Mold Crown Court has been hearing details of the macabre killing of Mabel Leyshon at her home Llanfairpwll, after which her heart was removed.

Ms Leyshon was found dead inside her bungalow

Denying the charge, the 17-year-old art student accused of the murder - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is accused of being obsessed with vampire and the occult.

As well as removing her heart, the prosecution allege that he drank some of Ms Leyshon's blood and placed pokers in the shape of a cross near her body.

Before the defence closed its case to make way for closing submissions on Tuesday, the court heard evidence from one of the defendant's school teachers - a special needs tutor who helped him with dyslexia.

The teenager was, he said, a very pleasant, amenable young man who was keen to learn, who would ask questions, but his writing and spelling had suffered because of his condition, the jury heard.

"He was always very well behaved," he said, and pointed out that there had never been any disciplinary problems.

'Hard worker'

Child psychologist Gunars Grinualds also told the jury that the teenager had a very poor concept of time and had a short term memory which led to difficulty remembering things over a period of time.

This condition Mr Grinualds added, would make him confused about where he had been and when, even within a few days.

A statement was also ready from Norma Jones, 64, whom the defendant had helped with decorating at her home in Llanfairpwll.

She said that she trusted him completely and that "he was a very hard worker, neat and tidy".

Closing arguments are made at Mold Crown Court

Earlier in the trial the prosecution explained how Ms Leyshon died from multiple stabbed wounds and her chest had been "ripped open". Her heart has been wrapped in newspaper.

In what was described as a "macabre ritual", they claimed a saucepan was filled with blood which was then drunk by the murderer.

The defendant was also questioned about an earlier "vampire" incident, in which it was alleged he attacked a German language student in a bid to get her to bite him, believing she was a vampire.

A policeman was called to the student's address, where the youth repeatedly said "bite me" to him.

But the teenager said his recollection of that event was "hazy" as he been smoking cannabis at the time.

A teenager accused of stabbing an Anglesey pensioner to death admitted in court he had a "small interest" in vampires.

But the defendant, who cannot be named, claimed he had no knowledge of vampires and had viewed vampire websites "just to have a look".