Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Matthew
HARDMAN
Classification: Homicide
Characteristics:Juvenile (17) - Mutilation -
A student whose desire to become a vampire led him to cut out a
woman's heart and drink her blood
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: November 24, 2001
Date of arrest: January 8, 2002
Date of birth:
1984
Victim profile:
Mabel Leyshon, 90
Method of murder:
Stabbing with knife (22
times)
Location: Llanfair
PG, Anglesey, North Wales, United Kingdom
Status:
Sentenced to life in prison (minimum 12 years) on August 2, 2002
Killer obsessed with vampires is jailed for life
By Nigel Bunyan - Telegraph.co.uk
August 3, 2002
A student whose desire to become a vampire led him
to cut out a woman's heart and drink her blood was jailed for life
yesterday.
Mathew Hardman, 17, butchered Mabel Leyshon, 90, a widow, after
breaking into her home last November. He used a kitchen knife to cut
open her chest before removing her heart and placing it in a saucepan
on a silver platter.
Afterwards he positioned two brass pokers at her feet in the shape of
a crucifix. A candlestick was placed on the floor close to the body,
and a red candle balanced on the mantelpiece at the house in Llanfair
PG, Anglesey, North Wales.
Hardman burst into tears as the jury at Mold Crown Court returned its
unanimous verdict. In the public gallery, his mother, Julie, shrieked
and began sobbing.
Also in the gallery was a teenage German exchange student whom Hardman
had begged to bite his neck two months before the murder. The girl,
now 17, left the court in tears and refused to comment on the verdict.
Mr Justice Richards, who lifted an earlier order
banning Hardman's identification, told the teenager he should serve a
minimum of 12 years in prison. The judge said Hardman's motivation for
killing and then mutilating his victim was difficult to comprehend.
However, he had been drawn to the conclusion "that
vampirism had indeed become a near obsession with you, that you really
did believe that this myth may be true, that you did think that you
would achieve immortality by the drinking of another person's blood
and you found this an irresistible attraction."
During the three-week trial Roger Thomas, QC,
prosecuting, suggested that Hardman, who was once his victim's paper
boy, had developed an overwhelming fascination with vampires.
"He believed they existed, believed they drank
human blood, and believed most importantly that they could achieve
immortality."
The killer had become obsessed with two questions:
"How do I become a vampire?" and "How do I become immortal?" He
decided he needed to carry out the "grotesque" killing in order to
provide a sacrifice.
Mrs Leyshon was set upon from behind as she sat in
an armchair watching television in the lounge of her bungalow. As she
fought for her life she was stabbed 22 times. The wound to her chest
was nearly eight inches long and nine inches wide. Once the pensioner
was dead Hardman made several deep gashes in her legs, and began
draining her blood into a small saucepan taken from the kitchen, from
which he then drank.
Despite the macabre nature of the murder, Hardman's
legal team brought no evidence of insanity. As a result the jury had
no medical issue to consider.
Two months before the killing Hardman had told the
16-year-old German student that he thought she was one of a community
of local vampires.
While in her bedroom he pushed his neck against her
mouth and pleaded with her to bite him so that he, too, could become a
vampire. Initially she thought he was joking, but later began
screaming when he pushed her on to the bed and repeated the order:
"Bite me."
A few minutes earlier he had described Llanfair PG
as a "perfect" location for vampires, since many of its residents were
elderly. If they died nobody would notice.
"I was really afraid because he had this lunatic
look in his eye," she told the court. When police arrested him Hardman
confessed to smoking cannabis at the time of the incident.
During a search of his bedroom officers found
books, magazines and internet material devoted to vampirism and the
occult.
Hardman was known to friends in Llanfair PG and
nearby Bangor as a "remarkably normal" teenager. He excelled at art
during his time at the David Huws School, Menai Bridge, and won a
place at Coleg Menai in Bangor. He was a month into an art and design
course when he turned his mind to ritualistic murder.
A family friend said: "He wasn't a weirdo. He
didn't wear black, and neither was he a village bad lad. He was just a
normal kid who wore jeans and trainers. That's what makes it all the
more shocking."
Teenager guilty of pensioner's 'vampire ritual'
killing
DailyMail.com
August 3, 2002
A teenager was today found guilty of murdering his
elderly neighbour and drinking her blood in a vampire ritual.
Art student Mathew Hardman, 17, was jailed for a
minimum of 12 years after being found guilty of butchering Mabel
Leyshon at her home in Llanfairpwll, Anglesey, last November.
The 90-year-old widow's heart was cut out and her
blood appeared to have been drunk from a saucepan.
The teenager was obsessed by vampires and killed
Mrs Leyshon in a bid to become one of the creatures.
He denied any involvement in the murder and claimed
his alleged fascination with vampires was no more than a "subtle
interest".
The jury at Mold Crown Court retired to consider
its verdict yesterday.
After the verdict was reached, trial Mr Justice
Richards lifted an order banning his identification.
Hardman was convicted by a unanimous verdict.
The 17-year-old wept when the male foreman read out
the verdict and his mother shrieked and sobbed in the public gallery.
Judge Mr Justice Richards said all the evidence
pointed to the fact that Hardman believed he could achieve immortality
by killing Mrs Leyshon and drinking her blood.
Mr Justice Richards said: "You have been convicted
by the jury on the strength of the most compelling evidence.
"The horrific nature of this murder was plain to
all. It was a vicious and sustained attack on a vulnerable old lady in
her own home, aggravated by the mutilation of her body after she had
been killed.
"It was planned and carefully calculated.
"Why you should have acted in this way is difficult
to comprehend but I am drawn to the conclusion that vampirism had
indeed become a near obsession with you, that you really did believe
that this myth may be true, that you did think that you would achieve
immortality by the drinking of another person's blood and you found
this an irresistible attraction."
Mr Justice Richards continued: "It may well seem
incredible but in my judgment that is where the evidence leads.
"One might hope for a psychological explanation for
your behaviour but none is offered.
"I must proceed on the basis that you are of sound
mind and I must look for an explanation for your behaviour elsewhere.
"You have specific learning difficulties but this
can't account for it.
"I can make an allowance for a degree of confused
thinking and immaturity, for some childish fantasising, but the fact
remains this was an act of great wickedness and one that you have not
faced up to and one for which you have not shown any remorse.
"You hoped for immortality but all you have
achieved is the brutal ending of another person's life and the
bringing of a life sentence upon yourself."
Superintendent Alan Jones, of North Wales Police,
who led the investigation into the death of Mrs Leyshon on November 24
last year, welcomed the verdict.
Superintendent Jones said: "The evidence against
Hardman was carefully gathered, as a result of the inquiries into
Hardman himself, a detailed forensic examination of both the murder
scene and his home address, and finally by in-depth examination by the
Forensic Science Service of the items seized.
"The guilty verdict of the jury is confirmation
beyond doubt that Mathew Hardman was responsible for her killing."
Hardman was watched from the public gallery by the
teenage German exchange student whom he had begged to bite his neck
two months before the murder.
The girl, now 17, left the court building in tears
and refused to comment on the verdict.
Hardman's mother also sat in the public gallery
flanked by two women who comforted her as she sobbed while the judge
made his closing comments.
As Hardman was taken down from the dock, his mother
leaned over the balcony and called down: "I love you, son".
Teenager guilty of 'vampire' murder
BBC.co.uk
August 2, 2002
A teenager has been found guilty of the "savage"
murder of a 90-year-old widow at her north Wales home.
The judge at Mold Crown Court recommended that
Mathew Hardman should serve a minimum of 12 years.
As the jury returned a unanimous verdict, the
17-year-old wept in the dock and his mother shrieked and sobbed in the
public gallery.
Mabel Leyshon was stabbed to death at her home in
Llanfairpwll on Anglesey, in November 2001.
Hardman - who had lived just a few yards away and
had been Mrs Leyshon's paper boy - mutilated her body before placing
pokers at her feet in the shape of a cross.
Her heart had been removed, wrapped in newspaper
and placed in a saucepan on a silver platter next to her body.
The prosecution said her killer drank her blood in
a "macabre ritual".
After the verdict was delivered, the judge lifted a
ban on naming Hardman which had been in place throughout the trial.
The prosecution said the teenager - who denied the
charge - was obsessed with vampires and the occult, and had told
others he wanted to kill someone in order to become immortal.
The 14-day hearing was told how he smashed his way
into Mrs Leyshon's bungalow where he was watching television.
He stabbed her 22 times. DNA found at the murder
scene matched that of blood found on a knife at Hardman's home.
The court was told of an incident two months before
Mrs Leyshon's murder, when Hardman had accused a 16-year-old German
girl of being a vampire.
Claiming she was "one of them", he begged the
student to bite his neck so that he too could become a vampire.
When she refused, he became violent and began
insisting, pressing his neck against her mouth. Eventually the girl
had to summon help.
The prosecution also outlined how Hardman had
surfed the internet for vampire websites and had read a magazine which
featured an article on how to conduct a black mass.
The teenager denied being "obsessed", and told that
court that his alleged fascination with vampires was nothing more than
a "subtle interest".
Sentencing Hardman, Mr Justice Richards ordered
that he be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure - a life sentence - and
ruled that he should serve a minimum of 12 years for the murder.
"It was planned and carefully calculated," he said.
'Brutality'
"Why you, an otherwise pleasant and otherwise well
regarded young man, should act in this way is difficult to comprehend.
"You had hoped for immortality. All you achieved
was to brutally end another person's life and the bringing of a life
sentence upon yourself."
A jury took almost four hours to reach a verdict at
the end of a trial which had been so gruesome journalists had found it
difficult to report.
Hardman had been living with his mother Julia, a
nurse, and her partner Alan Benneyworth, a former Ministry of Defence
fireman, in a bungalow in Llanfairpwll.
Asthma attack
Born and raised in Amlwch, on the north coast of
Anglesey, he moved to Llanfairpwll in 1998, when he was 13 years old.
That same year, his father - who had been separated
from his mother - died from a massive asthma attack.
Although his parents lived apart, Hardman had
remained close to his father and was upset by the tragedy.
From 'quiet lad' to killer
BBC.co.uk
August 2, 2002
The youth convicted of the brutal murder of elderly
widow Mabel Leyshon was a quiet boy, according to one of his school
friends.
"He was a quiet lad, who kept himself to himself,"
said the former pupil.
"He was not a very sociable person and stayed in
most of the time."
He said that no-one ever suspected 17-year-old
Mathew Hardman had any involvement in the shocking crime until the
defendant was arrested.
Hardman left David Huws School in Anglesey at the
age of 16 and went on to study art and design at Menai College.
He had completed one term, and was also working
part-time as a kitchen porter at a local hotel, when he was arrested
in Llanfairpwll in January.
From the ages of 13 to 16, Hardman had had a weekly
paper round which included visits to Mrs Leyshon's bungalow.
It emerges he had already dropped a chilling hint
of what was to come during a conversation with a teenage German
exchange student staying in the town.
He told her that he believed it was "a perfect
place for vampires" because of the many elderly people there, and if
any of them died after being bitten people would assumed they had had
a heart attack.
He also said "it wouldn't matter too much" if he
killed a pensioner - and had accused the girl of being a vampire and
asked her to bite him.
But friends of Hardman had little reason to suspect
he was capable of such a crime.
His school friend recalled an incident when he had
missed the bus and had been offered a lift by the defendant.
"At the time I was in his house I didn't see
anything strange to make me believe that he did it."
After Hardman was arrested, attention focused on
his art portfolio.
Friends say it was full or "morbid and depressing"
images - particularly death, blood and knives.
"I don't think anyone thought much of it before
this happened but then obviously as more evidence came out and looking
back now...
"But still it's very hard to believe because he's
just a local lad," said the school friend.
'Well behaved'
Hardman was born and lived in Amlwch, on the north
coast of Anglesey, before moving to Llanfairpwll in 1998, when he was
13.
He and his mother Julia, a nurse, and her partner
Alan Benneyworth, a former Ministry of Defence fireman, lived in a
bungalow.
That same year his father, who was separated from
his mother, died from a massive asthma attack - causing distress to
the youngster.
Obsession
During his subsequent trial, a former school
teacher described to the jury how he had been "a well behaved boy with
a good sense of humour".
The special needs tutor, who had helped the
defendant with dyslexia, spoke of a very pleasant, amenable young man
who was keen to learn.
He would ask questions, but his writing and
spelling had suffered because of his condition.
"He was always very well behaved," the teacher
said, and there had never been any disciplinary problems.
Hardman's hobbies appeared to be no different from
most teenage boys - computer games, television, pop music, art, lads'
magazines and drinking with friends.
But the teenager also had a more unusual hobby, an
interest in vampires and the occult, which was to become his
obsession.
Murderer cut out the heart of lonely widow
By Nigel Bunyan - Telegraph.co.uk
December 21, 2001
THE heart of a 90-year-old woman found murdered at
her home had been cut out, police said yesterday.
Mabel Leyshon was stabbed in the lounge of her
bungalow overlooking the Menai Straits at Llanfairpwll, Anglesey.
Three weeks after the killing, police disclosed
that the killer painstakingly removed her heart and left it on the
floor near the body.
They are puzzled by the movement of Mrs Leyshon's
body from one chair, where she had been killed, to another. Two brass
pokers, in the form of a cross, had been placed at her feet.
The body was discovered the following afternoon by
a social worker from Anglesey Council who called with her Sunday
lunch.
Police say they are pursuing someone with
considerable knowledge of physiology, gained perhaps through medical
training or in the butchery trade, and the strength to open up a
chest.
Detectives have consulted experts in the field of
the occult and witchcraft and have also sought the help of
psychological profilers. More than 100 people in the district have
given DNA samples and police plan to widen the programme.
Det Supt Alan Jones of North Wales Police, who is
leading the investigation, said his officers wanted to trace the
driver of a blue van seen by several people in the area.
Neighbours described Mrs Leyshon as "a typical old
lady living on her own".
She had not been closely involved with her family
since being widowed 13 years ago. On the few occasions she left her
home she attended her local church but police emphasised that she
could not be regarded as being obsessively religious.
Liz Lewis, chairman of the community council, said
there had been fear in Llanfairpwll since the murder on Nov 24. "That
fear will remain until the person responsible is found," she said.
