Man with 'depraved fantasy' to kill stranger jailed over cemetery hammer attack

A homophobe with a long-standing obsession with extreme violence has been jailed for realising his "depraved fantasy" to kill a stranger in a Gothic graveyard.

Erik Feld, 37, was given a life sentence with a minimum of 28 years at the Old Bailey after murdering Ranjith Kankanamalage in a pre-meditated attack.

In the early hours of August 16, 2021, he hid in the shadows behind a monument in Tower Hamlets cemetery, east London, before hitting his prey 12 times in the face and head with a claw hammer.

The 50-year-old victim was found with catastrophic injuries by a member of the public on a path in cemetery park later the same morning.

Before the brutal murder, Feld fed his fixation for violence by buying a kitten in order to kill it, and watching "snuff films" online showing men and women being bludgeoned with hammers, the Old Bailey heard.

In his trial, Feld concocted what the judge described as a preposterous “cock-and-bull” story and launched a homophobic rant at the victim, who had an ex-wife and two children in Sri Lanka and an ex-civil partner in the UK.

Feld was found guilty of murder in March and, on Wednesday, before his sentencing today. Condemning the "horrific and abhorrent" murder, judge Mr Justice Bryan said Feld had chosen a "creepy and Gothic" setting because it fitted his violent fantasy.

He said Feld's “selfish, callous, abhorrent actions" carried out to fulfil his "depraved fantasy” had a devastating impact on Mr Kankanamalage’s loved ones.

While Feld demonstrated himself to be a homophobe in court, the judge agreed that the starting point for sentencing was 25 years - rather than 30 years if the murder was aggravated by hostility to the victim's sexual orientation.

Feld had 10 previous convictions for 18 offences between 2002 to August 19 2021 including criminal damage, sex assault, battery and possession of an offensive weapon.

Among the offences: he had brandished an axe at passengers on the London Underground and sprayed black paint on his face and the word “kill” on a Tube window, the court was told.

Feld was arrested on August 20 2021 as he was awaiting sentence for waving a claw hammer outside a Poundland store two days after the killing.

A search of his home in Tower Hamlets, east London, uncovered two mallets and a sledge hammer in a hallway cupboard, and a third mallet in a living-room cupboard.

He was re-arrested in January 2022 after his DNA was found on bloodstained nail clippings from the left hand of his victim and he was spotted on CCTV footage in the area of the cemetery.

In a fresh search of his flat, police found another hammer and a cut-throat razor by Feld’s pillow.

Prosecutor Paul Cavin KC read a series of victim impact statements, including one from the victim’s daughter, Hiruni, on behalf of herself, her mother and younger brother who watched the sentencing by video link from Sri Lanka.

She described him as a kind and friendly person with life-long love of learning and an ambition to qualify in accountancy.

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Hiruni said her father was a senior bank manager in Sri Lanka, who completed two degrees, and a very accomplished athlete who won gold medals.

Mr Kankanamalage was hoping to apply to become a British citizen and resume his career in banking.

Former civil partner John Kennedy told how he met Mr Kankanamalage at the Hilton Hotel in Heathrow where the victim was working at the time.

He said the realisation of what happened to him “hit me like a ton of bricks” and he was consumed be grief, depression and deep sadness.

He also felt sad for Mr Kankanamalage’s family in Sri Lanka, saying: “This was such a cruel and cowardly attack on a gentle and kind man who was just chilling in the park.”

In mitigation, Andrew Morris highlighted Feld’s “severe personality disorder”.

The defendant’s mother died when he was aged 11, he had no relationship with his father and grew up in an “abusive household”, Mr Morris said.