'Horror film' killer found dead in jail

Published on Tuesday 16 November 2004 01:04

A MAN jailed for murdering his best friend, drinking his blood and eating part of his head because he thought it granted him immortality was yesterday found dead in his prison cell.

Alan Menzies, 23, from West Lothian, who bludgeoned Thomas McKendrick to death in a frenzied attack after a row over a horror film, is thought to have taken his own life at Shotts Prison.

Judge Roderick Macdonald QC branded Menzies an "evil and dangerous psychopath" and recommended he serve at least 18 years in prison when sentencing him to life at the High Court in Edinburgh on 8 October last year.

The former security guard, of Fauldhouse, West Lothian, claimed he was ordered by a vampire character from the horror film Queen of the Damned to kill Mr McKendrick, also from Fauldhouse. The killer had become obsessed with the film, which he had watched more than 100 times in the months before the murder.

Menzies, who suffered from a personality disorder, had a dangerous fascination with violence, which grew from a troubled childhood.

During the week-long trial at the High Court in Edinburgh,

the court heard that Menzies believed Queen of the Damned’s main character - a female vampire called Akasha - used to visit his bedroom and the pair had struck a deal in which he would achieve immortality if he killed people. He snapped when his 21-year-old friend insulted the vampire, and stabbed him to death.

The court heard that after killing the 21-year-old, Menzies claimed he drank his blood and ate part of his head.