Cray Allen, 40, bought the machinery from Argos and attempted to carry out an attack in the belief he was movie character Jason Voorhees from horror film ‘Friday the 13th’, a court heard
Cray Allen, who was fixated with the Friday the 13th slasher franchise, tried to murder a woman with a chainsaw(Image: Met Police)
A man tried to murder a woman with a chainsaw – after becoming convinced he was the masked killer from horror film ‘Friday the 13th’.
Cray Allen bought the machinery from Argos and attempted to carry out an attack in the belief he was movie character Jason Voorhees, a court heard. The 40-year-old – born on a Friday the 13th – had previously purchased Jason’s infamous hockey mask and used an image of the villain as his WhatsApp photo.
Woolwich Crown Court was told Allen then attacked a fellow resident at the Anahita Recovery Centre in Lee, south-east London, on Friday, June 13 last year. The victim woke shortly after midnight to see the defendant standing at the foot of her bed, chainsaw in hand, with what she described as an “angry and evil” look on his face.
He called her a “b***h” before “going at her with the chainsaw”, causing injuries to her hands, arms and face, before another resident intervened to stop the attack.
Allen was sentenced to a hospital order on Monday (27/4) with special restrictions after a jury convicted him of attempted murder. The court heard that Allen was suffering from psychosis with auditory hallucinations at the time of the attack.
In the days before his mum contacted the local community health team raising concerns that his mental health was deteriorating and that Friday the 13th was approaching. Despite this, Judge Christopher Grout said no steps were taken to mitigate the risk. Allen purchased a battery-powered chainsaw from Argos days before the attack and entered the centre with it undetected, it was said.
Judge Grout said: “All the residents at this facility, for obvious reasons, are vulnerable and [the victim] was particularly vulnerable, asleep in her bed in an environment where she should have been safe.
“Instead, she was the victim of the most horrendous attack. Putting aside the ease with which Mr Allen was able to purchase a chainsaw, how was he able to take it unnoticed into the centre, and how was he able to gain access to her room and enter with the chainsaw, again undetected?
“The only reason this incident didn’t result in more serious injuries or death was because another resident intervened, rather than anybody who worked at the facility.”
The court heard that the centre investigated what happened, though the outcome of the investigation was not made available to either the police or the sentencing judge.
In a statement, the victim said: “I’m traumatised by the incident and I’m reminded of it every time I look at my hands as they are covered in scars. I really felt like he was going to kill me in that moment and I do not know what would have happened if I was in a deep sleep.”
When Allen was arrested, he told police he had seen lightning strikes in the sky and voices that told him the victim had been angering God. He claimed he had been appointed by God to punish the woman, just as Jason punished characters in the movie franchise.
Allen pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm but denied attempting to murder the woman, though a jury found him guilty at trial. Forensic psychiatrist Dr Osman Hussain advised the public would be better protected with Allen receiving treatment in a hospital as opposed to in prison.
Judge Grout, who described the incident as “like the plot of a horror movie”, sentenced Allen to a hospital order with special restrictions. The order means he will remain in hospital as long as is deemed necessary.
