I confronted sick Don’t F**k With Cats killer in his lair before he sent me chilling email that would be his downfall

TWISTED murderer Luka Magnotta boasted he was a “genius” who could not be caught after posting sick videos of cat killings – but his run in with The Sun led to his conviction for the gruesome crime he went on to commit. The tale of the gay porn star’s horrific murder of Chinese student Jun Lin was made into an international Netflix sensation Don’t F*** With Cats – but that was only half the story. Alex West tracked down depraved killer Luka Magnotta to a hotel in Wembley Credit: Collect Here, Sun journalist Alex West tells how Magnotta’s warped arrogance and a doorstep encounter at a London pub sealed his downfall. IT began with a series of sick videos uploaded on the internet showing kittens being killed. One was fed to a python and another suffocated in a plastic bag with a vacuum cleaner. It ended with the horrific murder and dismemberment of a young student – his body parts sent in the post to politicians and schools in a case which rocked the world. Luka Magnotta, a failed gay porn star from Canada, was being named as the source of the films by a group of internet sleuths – who would later go on to be the centre of the Netflix doc Don’t F*** With Cats. In the middle of the night on December 8, 2011, we started getting emails to The Sun newsdesk from anonymous accounts saying that Magnotta was staying at a London pub, The Fusilier Inn in Wembley, where we would be able to confront him. At 9am that morning, weirdo Magnotta turned up at The Sun offices in Wapping, east London. He spoke to one of our reporters outside and demanded to know why he was being harassed by people contacting his hotel before disappearing. When I arrived in the office the news desk told me to go to Wembley and speak to him as we believed he was the person behind the cat videos. I quickly compiled a dossier of evidence – including pictures of a unique wolf design bedspread which appeared in his social media and one of the kitten films. Photographer Simon Jones and I worked out that his room was around the back of the pub and climbed up an old iron fire escape and banged on the back door. I thought that if he was behind the sick animal killings and boasting about them online, he would be a strange and dangerous individual. Magnotta boasted he was a ‘genius’ who could not be caught after posting sick videos of cat killings Credit: Scott Hornby – The Sun Luka Magnotta, a failed gay porn star from Canada, was the centre of Netflix’s doc Don’t F*** With CatsCredit: Refer to Source I didn’t know then he would go on to be wanted for a gruesome sadistic murder and spark an international manhunt. When he came to the door he was wearing a flat cap, leather jacket and tracksuit bottoms. He was wearing blue eye shadow and foundation make-up and he looked creepy. His high pitch transatlantic voice was strained and out of place at the £40-a-night hotel, and he seemed anxious we were quizzing him. Magnotta appeared from his online pictures to have all the trappings of wealth – his Facebook profile showed him at exotic locations in Paris, Moscow, Los Angeles and outside Buckingham Palace. He had changed his name from Eric Clinton Newman to Luka Magnotta in an effort to disguise his small town rural Canadian upbringing and add mystique. But the reality was grim. His language was also dark – he claimed he did not want to be “hunted down and killed”. I asked him about the videos but unusually he wasn’t shocked by the questions, instead he appeared to have rehearsed answers and denied everything. The sicko had changed his name from Eric Clinton Newman to Luka Magnotta Credit: Collect One sick video showed him feeding a kitten to a snake Credit: Collect He claimed he did not want to be interviewed and was a private person – yet he had posted swathes of pictures and information about himself online. His story didn’t add up – he couldn’t give answers to questions, and he was clearly fully aware of everything I was talking about. After 20 minutes of interrogation I elicited a confession of sorts. I asked if he had received death threats for the videos he posted online of him killing the kittens, he replied yes. When I asked if then he had killed the kittens, he said I was twisting his words. When pointed to the pictures of him posing on the bedspread with the kittens – the same bedspread seen in the killing video – he changed his tune and said his picture had been digitally altered. After a while I gave up the questioning and we left. We stayed outside and kept an eye on his room while I typed up my interview. A few hours later we watched as plain clothed police officers arrived and escorted him from the hotel. In the middle of the night on December 8, 2011, The Sun received emails from saying that Magnotta was staying in London and we would be able to confront him Credit: Simon Jones – The Sun Magnotta’s run in with The Sun led to his conviction for the gruesome crime he went on to commit Credit: Simon Jones – The Sun The hotel owner had complained after receiving calls about him and wanted him to leave. We called the Met Police and said we had this information about Magnotta – but they said there was no real crime that they could investigate. Two days later the news desk received a really dark email to the office from someone who could only be Magnotta. It detailed horrific violent sex acts he planned to do. It also boasted that he could not be caught and that the next time it would not be animals that he would kill. In one line it paraphrased a quote from Basic Instinct saying: “You see, killing is different than smoking…with smoking you can actually quit.” The message was sent using the alias John Kilbride, one of the child victims of the Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. In one of the videos that he posted of the cat killing, Magnotta is playing the song The Little Drummer Boy in the background. The Little Drummer Boy was also being played in the background on a tape recorded by Ian Brady when he killed Leslie Ann Downey.In his dark words he boasted of his “genius” at not being caught. Magnotta’s Facebook profile showed him at exotic locations in Paris, Moscow, Los Angeles and outside Buckingham Palace Credit: Collect Magnotta boasted that he could not be caught and that the next time it would not be animals that he would kill Credit: AFP The letter said: “I have to say goodbye for now, but don’t worry. In the near future, you’ll be hearing from me again. “This time, however, the victims won’t be small animals. “I will, however, send you a copy of the new video I’m going to be making. You see, killing is different than smoking. With smoking, you can actually quit. “Once you kill and taste blood, it’s impossible to stop. “The urge is just too strong not to continue. The fun part of all this is watching millions of people get angry and frustrated because they can’t catch me. “That’s why I love this. I love the risk factor. It’s so fun watching people work so hard, gathering all the evidence, then not being able to name me or catch me. “You see, I always win. I always hold the trump card. And I’ll continue to make more movies. London is wonderful because all the people are so stupid. “So, I have to disappear for a while, you know, until people quit bothering me. But next time you hear from me, it will be in a movie I am producing, that will have some humans in it, not just pussys. “The things I have seen and the things I have done, you can only imagine. “Getting away with all this, now that’s genius.” It was like a confession note written in advance where he set out what he would go on to do. The email became key evidence in his murder trial to prove that it was premeditated. Magnotta brought Jun Lin back to his apartment and chopped off his head and limbsCredit: Not known clear with Picture Desk Following the gruesome mutilation, Magnotta went on the run in Europe and an international manhunt was launched I reported the letter to the press bureau – the communication arm of the Met Police who said I should take it in and speak to an officer about it. The following day, I went to Limehouse Police Station and gave a full statement to a detective. We passed over the email and the other evidence. But the police came back and said there was nothing they could do about it. The email itself appeared to have been sent from the Netherlands.Magnotta had either used a VPN or had just moved to Holland where he sent the email. The videos of the cat killings were posted in North America. As a result the Met said it was out of their jurisdiction and they couldn’t do anymore and recorded it as a “malicious communication”. The sense that Magnotta had just disappeared was frustrating. But his sick bragging would ultimately come back to haunt him as it proved premeditation for his murder. Months passed and I thought little more about it and got back to work on other stories. Then in May 2012 I was at home in West London and got a call from the newsdesk saying Magnotta was wanted by police for horrifically killing and chopping up Chinese student Jun Lin in Canada. He had brought this young man back to his apartment in Montreal and drugged him. The monster was later arrested in Berlin in an internet café where he was Googling his own crimeCredit: Refer to Source The Sun’s Alex West gave evidence against him at his murder trial in Canada via video link Credit: Darren Fletcher – The Sun Whilst unconscious he stabbed him with a screwdriver painted silver to resemble an ice pick and then chopped his head off and chopped off his limbs. He filmed the mutilation and posted it online under the name 1 Lunatic 1 Icepick. It was a hideous homage to the Basic Instinct movie, in which Sharon Stone’s character kills her lover with an ice pick while straddling him. It showed him performing sick sex acts with the dismembered body. He then sent body parts including a hand and foot to politicians and schools across Canada. Jun’s head was found discarded by a nearby lake. Six months after we met him at that London pub, he had acted out what he had threatened to do in the email he sent us. Following his gruesome crime Magnotta went on the run in Europe and an international manhunt was launched. I was warned there was a chance he could be coming to London. But days later he was arrested in Berlin in an internet café where he was googling his own crime. A year later on March 11, 2013, Magnotta was due to appear for a preliminary hearing in Montreal. I was dispatched by the news desk to go out and cover the hearing. When I arrived at the courthouse I was informed by the police that they wanted me to give evidence in the case. Magnotta was brought into court by the custody officer. He was bent over and sullen, his eyes sunken and expressionless. He sat disengaged in the dock as the charges were read out against him. The judge asked me if I knew Luka Magnotta and if I recognised him in court. I was asked to point him out in front of the judge, legal teams and the other press. Magnotta did not lift his eyes as I pointed in his direction and said: “That’s him.” He was a completely different vision to the cocky but weird man I had seen at the hotel months earlier. I had surreptitiously recorded the almost 30 minute exchange and the audio tape was played in Magnotta’s trial – the only time the jury heard the beast speak. The email he sent afterwards became key evidence that the murder was premeditated. I was cross-examined by Magnotta’s lawyer who tried to suggest this man was not guilty of murder because of mental illness. But the jury saw through that veil of lies and convicted him correctly of first degree murder. The Sun’s part in the twisted saga helped nail the killer. After Magnotta was convicted, prosecutor Louis Bouthillier called the email “a very important part of our case”. Magnotta will rot behind bars for the rest of his life – condemned by his own warped arrogance.