Welsh Teen Admits to Killing Man, 63, He Met Online

A teenager from a small village in Wales has been accused of murdering an older man after they met on an Internet dating site, Wales Online reports.

Bleddyn Rees King, who was 18 at the time of the incident six months ago, is being accused of robbing and murdering David Evans, a 63-year-old father of two, after meeting on a dating website. King also allegedly filmed the murder.

Evans, who lived in Pentyrch, a suburb on the outskirts of Cardiff, the capital of Wales, was found dead with 72 injuries, including multiple stab wounds, in his home. Prosecutor Michael Mather-Lees QC said King recorded the murder and that the knife was used with so much force, it was bent. The lawyer also said King set Evan's home on fire in order to hide evidence of the crime.

"This was brutality of the extreme kind and after he was dead, the defendant videoed his body while giving a dialogue of what he had done and why he was doing it. It was because he was short of money," Mather-Lees said.

The video was shown to a jury at Cardiff Crown Court and King is heard saying, "Fuck around with me and this is what happens. You fuck with me and you fuck with the best."

King denies murder but is pleading manslaughter. He says he met Evans on an online dating site and that the victim wanted more sexually than what the teen was comfortable with, which resulted in King losing control and beating him.

The young man says he does not remember stabbing Evan, who worked as a gardener, or filming the incident but did recall the man's cat attacking him. King said he assumes he killed it.

But Mather-Lees argues that King knew what he was doing and that he had searched for other older gay men to attack and rob before he settled on Evans.

"That was the best he could come up with having thought about it for six months," Mather-Lees told the jury. He also said that King's initial defense, which he told police, was that he saved Evans from two others who were attacking him.

"He told officers 'I should have a medal for it'," he said. "They were really laying into him. I grabbed the knife out of him. I was trying to save his life. He is capable of telling any version, which suits him. It was a catalogue of lies."

The attorney suggests the real motives behind King's attack was that he needed money.

"He developed a plan," he said. "He deliberately, callously and brutally targeted a gay man for his own gain. He chose a gay man because he thought he would be somebody more vulnerable and that if he survived his attack would be less likely to complain. We say it was a plain and simple premeditated robbery with extreme violence contemplated. It was executed and then followed with cynical lies."

Mather-Lees says that Evans was a quiet man who had been in a longterm marriage and lived with his two sons in France for a period of time before moving back to Cardiff, where his wife became sick and eventually died.

King, who lives with his mother and older brother in Abercynon, had allegedly been in contact with another older man from the same website, where the teen had the handle "Big Wolf 1993." The other man, however, was not able to meet up with King the night Evans was murdered.

"It was indeed fortunate for that man and tragically unfortunate for Mr. Evans", Mather-Lees told the jurors.

The incident mirrors a murder that occurred in 2009 in New York City. John Katehls, just 16 at the time, was convicted of murdering George Weber, a 47-year-old radio host, after they met on a gay hookup site, EDGE reported.

The teen was found guilty of second-degree murder in November 2011 for stabbing Weber more than 50 times. Katehls' defense was similar to that of King's, who also said he defended himself because the encounter got out of control. Prosecutors also portrayed Katehls as a teen hard up for money.