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Obsession 'fuelled stab murder' Gamer's death 'Jacobean tragedy'
(1 day later)
A German man stabbed a student to death after becoming obsessed with his girlfriend through an internet gaming site, Nottingham Crown Court has heard. The death of a student allegedly at the hands of a German man who had become obsessed with his girlfriend was like a "Jacobean tragedy", a court heard.
David Heiss stabbed Matthew Pyke 86 times in a "savage and sustained" attack at his flat, jurors were told. David Heiss, 21, of Limburg near Frankfurt, is accused of stabbing Matthew Pyke in a flat in Nottingham, the city's Crown Court heard.
The court heard Mr Heiss began stalking Joanna Witton through the site which was run from the Nottingham flat. Mr Heiss had "become infatuated" with 21-year-old Joanna Witton who he met on an internet gaming site, jurors heard.
Mr Heiss, 21, of Limburg, near Frankfurt, denies murdering Mr Pyke, 20, on 19 September last year. Mr Heiss denies murdering Mr Pyke in a "savage and sustained" attack.
Mr Pyke, originally from Stowmarket in Suffolk, ran a web forum for a computer game and had been due to start a degree course at Nottingham Trent University. Miss Witton, from Selby, North Yorkshire, discovered Mr Pyke dead at the flat they shared above a pub in Nottingham city centre on 19 September last year. The 20-year-old had been stabbed 86 times.
Violent act The couple spent much of their lives on a website where they discussed strategies and characters for the computer game Advanced Wars, the jury was told.
Shaun Smith QC, prosecuting, said Mr Pyke was killed in a "cold, calculated and pre-meditated attack". It was on one of the site's chat forums Miss Witton met Mr Heiss, who went under the alias Eagle the Lightening.
He said: "It was an act that was born out of obsession and hatred in equal measure. I needed to talk to people but I never told people everything Witness Joanna Witton
"It was obsession for Joanna Witton, who was Matthew's girlfriend and who had been Matthew's girlfriend for some time, and hatred for Matthew, because he was Joanna's boyfriend." The court heard he spent six months pestering her with emails and messages before allegedly murdering her boyfriend, and his love rival, Mr Pyke.
He added: "It was a savage and sustained act, which didn't involve one or two acts of violence - it involved 86. On Wednesday, another gamer who used the site, David Quinn, 19, told the court Mr Pyke's death was like the Jacobean tragedy The Changeling.
"That is how many times this defendant stabbed Matthew Pyke." The jury was told Mr Quinn spent many hours on his own in his bedroom conversing through chatrooms.
The court heard Mr Heiss had told Ms Witton that he would come to Nottingham to stab himself in front of her. Mr Quinn said: "This thing reminds me of a Jacobean tragedy called The Changeling.
When giving evidence, Ms Witton said: "I did not know what he would be capable of doing." "I was doing an English course and we were reading this book where two men were trying to win the affection of the lead female character.
Hit list "It ended up in the deaths of quite a few of the characters."
The court heard that Mr Pyke and Ms Witton met through a website in 2005 and began living together when they moved to Nottingham. Asked by prosecutor Shaun Smith QC, why he got annoyed with Mr Heiss during online conversations, Mr Quinn added: "It was basically because of his desperation to have some kind of physical contact with Joanna Witton, to have a kind of romantic interest."
Mr Heiss began to contact Ms Witton in March last year, telling her that he had a crush on her. Mr Heiss visited the environmental sciences student and Mr Pyke, who was about to start a course in computer science, twice in June and July.
He used social networking sites to monitor Ms Witton, the jury was told, and his messages to her became more intimate and bizarre, including confessions of love. But after Miss Witton rejected his advances, Mr Heiss returned from Germany for a third time and stabbed Mr Pyke to death at the couple's flat above the Orange Tree Pub in North Sherwood Street, the court was told.
Mr Smith said Mr Heiss was not put off when told Ms Witton was in a relationship and in fact created a list of people he wanted to "erase". Miss Witton said she told other users on chat forums about Mr Heiss stalking her and Mr Pyke, who was originally from Stowmarket, Suffolk.
At the top of that list was Mr Pyke, he said. She said: "People were asking if anything was wrong. I needed to talk to people but I never told people everything. I held back on some things."
The case continues.The case continues.