CORONATION STREET copycat killer studied soap scene before murdering womanIn a chilling imitation of CORRIE villain John Stape who killed Charlotte Hoyle with a hammer, a teenager beat his victim on her head, neck and back then doused her body in petrol and set fire to her house.
Shaun Smith, prosecuting, told Nottingham crown court: “You will hear about a young man who immersed himself in a fantasy world; fantasy words he wrote, television drama, films he accessed by the internet. He did that to such an extent that boundaries between real life and fiction became very, very tragically blurred.”
Police found the boy’s computer was packed with violent scenes from soaps including HOLLYOAKS and EMMERDALE and also contained clips from the notorious torture film Saw and controversial TV shows such as TRIAL AND RETRIBUTION.