Animal fetish man guilty of plot to murder parents
A Lancashire man and the bisexual lover he met online have been found guilty of conspiring to murder his parents.
Shaun Skarnes, aged 19, and Christopher Monks, 24, were both convicted at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday.
A jury took one hour to find each man guilty of two counts of conspiracy to murder Monks' parents, Christopher and Elizabeth, at the family home in Preston Road, Clayton-le-Woods.
They will be sentenced in September.
Skarnes, of Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, and Monks had met on the internet and had discussions online about murdering the couple.
The pair hatched the plot after meeting on an internet site about "Furries" – people who pretend to be animal characters and share sexual role-playing fantasies.
Skarnes visited Monks' family home in February after weeks of chatting to him online.
The two played computer games before Skarnes left, telling Mr and Mrs Monks he was getting the train home to Ellesmere Port and thanking them for having him round.
During the trial, Mr Watson QC and PC Timothy Clarke, who analysed computer records, read out graphic online exchanges alleged to have been sent between the two men, using their adopted animal names, Rox-Yin, a fox, and Kira, a half-wolf half-fox.
One online conversation transcript showed that Kira, Skarnes' user-name, wrote: "Can you hold your parents' legs down?"
Monks' character, Rox-Yin, replied: "I can try, I'm not that strong. What are you planning?"
Skarnes then wrote: "Strangulation", to which Monks replied: "Just make sure you kill them or I'll have hell to pay."
Another online conversation discussed how Skarnes should bring warm clothes and portable computer games to help pass the time as he waited outside for Mr and Mrs Monks to fall asleep, and how duct tape could be bought to create gags.
Other online chat transcripts discussed sexual preferences, with references to bestiality, cannibalism, cutting off penises and a joke about necrophilia.
Text messages, recovered from mobile phones alleged to have been used by the defendants, were also read aloud during the eight-day trial.
Read more on this story in Thursday's Lancashire Evening Post
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Weather for Preston
Thursday 29 July 2010
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