Horror film fanatic guilty of killings

LONDON - A horror film fanatic who wanted to be an infamous serial killer was found guilty on Thursday of murdering four strangers during a three-day rampage through southern England.

Daniel Gonzalez, 25, compared his murders to those in the film "Halloween" and told police he wanted to know what it would be like to be "Freddy Krueger for the day" -- referring to the crazed killer from the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" movie.

Gonzalez, who also said he wanted to carry out a massacre similar to the 1999 killings at Columbine High School in the United States, began his murderous spree on September 15, 2004.

He travelled to Hilsea on the south coast and tried to cut the throat of a 67-year-old man who was out with his wife, walking his dog.

The man fought him off but later that afternoon Gonzalez headed up to Woking near London and stabbed to death Marie Harding, 73, as she was out walking in a secluded area.

Early the next day, he used two knives to stab to death 46-year-old Kevin Molloy who had been out drinking in a pub in north London.

Just an hour later, he broke into a house not far away and tried to kill the occupant. However he ran away after the men put up a fierce struggle.

Shortly afterwards, he bought some new knives and then went to the home of Derek Robinson, 75, and his wife Jean, 60, and stabbed them both to death.

He was arrested a few hours later at a station.

Gonzalez, who had admitted two counts of attempted murder, had denied murder, saying he was a schizophrenic and had been under the command of voices.

But a jury at the Old Bailey took just over an hour to find him guilty of murder.

"We suggest that Gonzalez is a psychopath who killed because of the callous, cold person that he is," said prosecutor Richard Horwell. "He wanted to kill for his own personal pleasure."

During the trial, the court heard how Gonzalez had told doctors he went on the rampage because he was bored.

"I watched horror movies and that all the time, fantasy and not real and that," he had told detectives.

"I just thought about doing it, man -- what would it be like just to be maybe Freddy Krueger or something like that, just for one day."

Police called his murders "shocking and brutal".

"Gonzalez admitted he was an individual intent on killing. He was clever and manipulative and did not want to accept responsibility for what he had done," said Detective Chief Inspector Dave Cobb.

"He wanted to be remembered as a famous serial killer, but I hope he is forgotten and that we only remember his victims and the families that survive them."

He will be sentenced tomorrow and faces a mandatory life jail term.

- REUTERS