Tour of Britain's bizarre underworld (original) (raw)

Manuela Ruda's obsession with Satanism brought her to Britain where her tour of this nation's bizarre underbelly took her to the Isle of Skye.

There she met Tom Leppard, in his 60s, who lives in a cave and with whom she corresponded while awaiting her trial.

Mr Leppard said she had told him what she had done, but not the reason why.

He told Sky News: "I said you can't just hate, you've got to have something to hate. You can't hate this, or hate that without a reason. And she never answered the question."

Ruda told German police they had visited the UK twice, touring Scotland for five months in 1996 and in February 1997 visiting London.

Manuela said: "I was in England and Scotland, met people and vampires in London. We went out at night, to cemeteries, in ruins and in the woods.

The so-called Leopard Man of Skye has told in the past how Ruda visited him four times in August 2000 as he worked in a Kyleakin hotel bar and said she seemed fascinated by his way of life. A colourful eccentric, Mr Leppard is in the Guinness Book of Records for having his body covered in a leopard tattoo.

Satanism in this country is secretive and underground, and there is no hard evidence pointing to the number of Satanists.

Iain Taylor, of the Evangelical Alliance, puts it in the thousands, although critics accuse evangelists of hyping up the threat as it suits their own agenda.

One estimate puts the number of committed Satanists in Britain at just 100.

Mr Taylor said: "There is increasing anecdotal evidence of people becoming involved in satanism, especially children."

Two years ago a UK branch of the American Church of Satan was set up, merging groups trying to recruit Satanists here, such as the Church of the Nine Angels and the UK Temple of Set.

Satanism has been linked in the media to allegations of sexual abuse, claims that led social services to seize children in high-profile cases such as those in Ayrshire, Rochdale and Orkney.

The allegations were found to be baseless.