Chef Jacob Power who ‘plotted Newbury massacre’, blamed actions on cannabis

A CHEF who fantasized about torturing and murdering victims blamed his derangement on cannabis use.

Police who raided the home of 22-year-old Jacob Power found notes apparently plotting a massacre in Newbury – plus details on how to kidnap, drug, torture, kill and dispose of victims.

But it was not all just fantasy – he burgled The White Hart Inn at Hamstead Marshall, where families were living.

Mr Power, of Ash Tree Grove, Hamstead Marshall, wore a balaclava and gloves and carried a rucksack which, the prosecution say, contained a murder kit.

But, giving evidence at Reading Crown Court, Mr Power insisted he had merely been “urban exploring”.

He said his murderous fantasies and urges to collect macabre torture equipment had been triggered by cannabis use and added: “It ruined me.”

For background from the trial, click here: https://newburytoday.co.uk/news/deranged-chef-planned-to-act-out-cannibal-fantasies-and-plot-9429505/

He told jurors that he had suffered low self esteem due to his biological father having abandoned the family around the time he was born.

Mr Power described working as a chef at The Craven Arms in Enborne but said he was “very heavily dependent on cannabis” at the time.

He said: “From the age of 16 I was smoking it daily.

“It would help me dive deeper into fantasy.”

By the age of 19, said Mr Power, he was self harming and having suicidal thoughts.

He described becoming fascinated by fictional cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter from the novel and film The Silence of the Lambs and by television serial killer Dexter.

Mr Power told jurors: “It created some sort of obsession.”

Eventually a drug binge led to a written warning from his employers at The Craven Arms, the court heard.

He said: “I turned up for work but I wasn’t in a fit state; [the written warning] caused me a lot of distress – work was my lifeline.”

Around this time Mr Power sought help from a mental health crisis team.

He told the court he had begun collecting macabre items associated with killing because “it was part of the fantasy; I would hoard them”.

Mr Power was adamant that he never intended to carry out his murderous fantasies, despite the meticulous details found in his notebooks.

He said: “I was writing things down to get them out of my head.”

Asked by his defence counsel about his trips to The White Hart Inn, Mr Power claimed he had assumed it was abandoned since it was no longer functioning as a pub.

Jurors were shown footage of him creeping in, masked and gloved, with a rucksack on his back.

He conceded that he had found keys to the upstairs rooms and taken them and that he had spray painted over CCTV cameras and gone upstairs.

But Mr Power claimed it was only when he entered an empty bedroom that was clearly being used that he realised the building was being occupied by tenants.

Asked by his counsel how he now felt about his actions, he told the jury: “I hate myself – I entered someone’s safe space.

“If the roles were reversed, I’d be horrified.”

Mr Power denied plotting to carry out his cannibalistic murder and torture fantasies upon the occupants.

He admitted searching online for how to dig graves, dispose of bodies and evade capture by altering the tread on his shoes.

Mr Power denies several charges of aggravated burglary with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and possessing weapons with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Jurors are currently considering their verdicts.