Power’s murderous plans came to light because mental health professionals alerted the police in February after being unable to contact him for his regular appointments. Officers searched his bedroom during a “welfare check”.
The jury was told how Power, a 22-year-old cook, had broken into a local pub three times in November while wearing a black backpack and dressed in dark clothing, a balaclava and latex gloves.
Police said Power had dug two graves near his house.Credit: Thames Valley Police
Simon Denison, a prosecutor, said Power’s target was a family living above the establishment The White Hart. He had gone to the pub “intending to kill” while in the grip of “dark thoughts” driven by long-standing mental health issues and excessive cannabis consumption, the prosecutor said.
The family was out during each of his three visits. On November 7, Power entered the pub through an unlocked side door, found keys to guest rooms, explored the family’s apartment and stole cash, prosecutors said. He returned November 14 and 28 and again found the pub empty.
“He went there armed with a knife or knives, as well as other items he had listed to live out the fantasy of killing as Dexter did, and intent on getting away with it,” Denison said.
But Power told the court that he was not planning to harm anyone at the pub, which had been shuttered because the owners were selling it. He also said that his notes and purchases were part of a “fantasy” driven by his “obsession” with Dexter and that he was seeking psychological help for thoughts he had about harming people.
A key piece of evidence was Power’s backpack. When he was arrested February 11, the bag contained knives, a crowbar, handcuffs, zip ties and other equipment detailed in his “kill list” notebook, but Power maintained at trial that he had only carried water, gloves and other innocuous items when he was at The White Hart.
Jurors acquitted him of going to the pub armed – the basis for aggravated burglary – after a judge advised them they could only convict him if they were sure the weapons were in the bag in November.
Some legal experts said the case sheds light on the tricky question of how to prosecute people who have not yet committed a dangerous crime but appear to have taken steps toward doing so.
Blackbourn said British law mostly “allows space for people to withdraw from committing a criminal act”, even to the extent of considering murder but changing their mind. The law mostly seeks to avoid “criminalising thoughts over actions,” she said.
Some of the weapons police say they found at Power’s home.Credit: Thames Valley Police
The exception is preparing for acts of terrorism, which carries a life sentence and has a much lower legal threshold than attempted murder, she said.
In March, Jonathan Hall, the British government’s top adviser on counterterrorism laws, warned that the situation had created a loophole for “lone individuals who plan mass killings”.
Following a review of an attack in the northern town of Southport in which a violence-obsessed teenager murdered three girls and stabbed eight other children, Hall called for a new law to cover lone individuals who plan mass-casualty attacks.
His report warned that “no prosecution would be available if the police raided an address and found careful handwritten” plans “for carrying out a massacre.”
Police say Power wrote out his plan to become a serial killer.Credit: Thames Valley Police
In Power’s case, he had compiled detailed plans in his notebook and had acquired weapons, chemicals and equipment.
Under the headline “The White Hart,” Power wrote that he would use plastic sheeting to cover a “kill room,” then restrain victims with zip ties, ropes and chains – all of which he had purchased – before murdering and dismembering them.
