Jorge Martin Carreno death: Confession about murder 'made up'

Jorge Martin Carreno was a Spanish national working at the Oxford Mini plant

A woman has said her alleged confession to the murder of a man found dead in a river was lies, a court heard.

Jorge Martin Carreno, 30, was pulled from the River Cherwell at Parson's Pleasure, Oxford, in July 2021.

Scarlet Blake, 25, is accused of targeting him after he spent a night out with work colleagues.

She confessed to her then partner Ashlynn Bell that she had murdered him, Oxford Crown Court heard. Ms Blake, of Crotch Crescent, Oxford, denies murder.

She told jurors she had made up the details of murdering Mr Martin Carreno because Ms Bell wanted her to kill someone after making her livestream the torturing and killing of a cat.

Ms Blake has pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage relating to killing the pet.

The body of Jorge Carreno was found in the River Cherwell at Parson's Pleasure

She said: "I wasn't interested or willing - it was an awful thought to me."

But she said she made up the story of killing Mr Martin Carreno "in the interest of keeping her happy", because she wanted Ms Bell to kill her one day, an idea that was "sexually stimulating" to her.

She added: "She was wanting to make me do this thing and I was pretty much... well at a limit after going through the killing of the cat."

Ms Blake said she had seen news reports of the discovery of Mr Martin Carreno's body and then "made up the details in a dramatic way".

She said Ms Bell was in "disbelief" when she told her.

"At the beginning she was saying that I was lying and trying to deceive her," Ms Blake said.

"But at the point where she saw the CCTV image of me in the jacket, she seemed to become very convinced, I guess.

"She was quite obsessive over how apparently, I killed someone for her, and how now she's dating a murderer. She seemed to enjoy it."

Mr Martin Carreno's body was found in the river having drowned after receiving a blow to the back of his head and being strangled.

Ms Blake told the court that she had met him in the city centre, after having gone for a late night walk to clear her head, and that she was "not looking for a victim".

She walked with him to Parson's Pleasure, where she said she left him alive to go home.

"I don't know how he died," she said.

"I assumed he drowned. It wasn't something I did. As to how, I still don't know, I wasn't there."

The trial continues.

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