Serial killer-obsessed Wakefield man 'heard voices to harm others'
A man who became obsessed by serial killers, ordered worrying items online and said he was hearing voices to hurt people, has been locked up.
The mother of Kieran Mellor became so concerned by his behaviour she phoned the police on him.
He told her he was going to kill a woman who had befriended him and she was “concerned about the level of detail” he went into, prosecutor Nathan Davis told Leeds Crown Court.
He later admitted a charge of making threats to kill and was jailed for more than two years.
The court heard that Mellor had moved back in with his mother last year, but was spending his benefits on large amounts of alcohol, which he told her was to “keep the voices in his head quiet”.
His mum encouraged him to visit a doctor but the 27-year-old did not turn up for an appointment.
On the evening of September 23 last year his mother rang 999 over his deteriorating mental state, saying he had left with a knife saying he wanted to kill the woman who had befriended him.
He was talking about serial killers, that he had an “urge to kill people” and the thought of killing “made his mouth water”.
The police found him and arrested him, but he refused to answer questions.
Checks on his internet devices found that he had ordered a mask, balaclava and a hunting-style knife from Amazon.
Mellor, of Ryecroft Street, Ossett, had also made online searches for knives and serial killers.
The woman whom he made the threats against said there had never been any ill will between them, but was left haunted by his threat.
Mitigating, Andrew Semple said that Mellor had since been diagnosed with Asperger’s and unstable personality disorder.
He had self medicated with cannabis, had since stopped using the drug but had turned to alcohol instead. He has been held on remand for the past five months.
It was heard that Mellor had been excluded from school when he was 16 for bringing in a knife.
Judge Simon Phillips KC jailed him for 28 months and gave him an indefinite-length restraining order to keep him away from the woman.