In a few short years, Marcus Monzo went from being a nice normal guy living and working in London to a drug-addicted conspiracy theorist with an obsession with swords.
He went on a journey of supposed enlightenment, travelling the world to spiritual retreats, following the teachings of a guru, and taking a cocktail of hallucinogenic drugs.
But instead of inner peace, Monzo ended up drinking and washing in his own urine, ranting about 9/11, Covid, and the sinking of the Titanic being faked, and believing the Pope is the leader of a lizard race who rule the world.
Then, in April last year, Monzo took swords he had bought online and launched into a horrifying rampage through the streets of Hainault, north-east London.
Adding to the horror, it turned out Monzo had killed, skinned, deboned, and cooked his cat, and had the dead carcass in the back of his van when he went on the rampage.
The killer was convicted of 14-year-old Daniel’s murder at the Old Bailey, and will now face a lengthy life term in jail when he is sentenced on Friday.
Monzo was born and raised in a village in Astorga in southern Brazil, enjoying horse riding as a child while his mother ran her own clothing business.
He studied business administration at university in Brazil and went into the retail business with his brother, Eduardo, before the family moved to New Hampshire in the US.
In 2013, Monzo moved to London and found work in a pub. He joined an east London gym and took up Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and to those who knew him he was easy-going and friendly.
But Monzo had also started smoking cannabis, a habit which eventually became a £100-a-day addiction to the drug. He was also experimenting with LSD and magic mushrooms.
“He was a healthy, popular guy, he had no problems”, Eduardo told the trial.
Monzo became a blue belt in ju-jitsu, but a knee injury in 2016 thwarted his progress. Instead, he turned to yoga and began to follow the teaching of an Indian guru named Sadhguru.
The court heard he travelled to an ashram for a retreat, and his brother noticed changes in his behaviour and a distancing from their family.
In 2021, Monzo went to another spiritual retreat in Brazil, staying with Amazonian tribes and drinking large quantities of the psychedelic brew ayahuasca.
Monzo became increasingly entrenched in his alternative lifestyle, and told the court in detail about some of the unusual practices that he followed.
He told jurors he was hunting for the “magical, miraculous and supernatural”, and had begun drinking his own urine for “cleaning” purposes. “I would use it to shower, on the hair, even using it on the nose”, he added.
The court also heard about Monzo’s attendance at breatharian festivals in Italy and Denmark, which promote living without food.
By the time of the sword attacks, Monzo was working as a handyman and “man with a van”, and there were signs of his retreat from normal life.
Elizabeth Bananuka hired Monzo for help with the organisation of an awards ceremony, and was “frightened” when he started revealing his outlandish views.
She said he referred to the Covid-19 outbreak as a “plan-demic” and hailed Elon Musk for buying Twitter and allowing “the truth” to be shared openly.
She said Monzo told her he believes the Earth is flat, and there is “an area in Antarctica where anyone who has tried to go there has died.
“After that is where you would hit the wall, and we all live under a dome.”
She said an “adamant” Monzo went on to profess that the world is controlled by “evil lizards” with the Pope at the top.
He believes the pandemic was “created” to silence the people as there were “too many learning the truth”.
And Ms Bananuka said Monzo expressed a 9/11 conspiracy before suggesting we are “all just like little ants being controlled”.
Reviews of Monzo’s social media output show he praised controversial influencer Andrew Tate, offered support for Adolf Hitler, and shared conspiracies including that the sinking of the Titanic was fake.
Monzo denied the serious charges he faced, arguing that he should not be held criminally responsible because of mental illness.
But prosecutors successfully argued that Monzo’s mental state at the time of the attacks was down to his own drug use, not something that can amount to a defence to murder and attempted murder.
The result of his descent into heavy drug use is Daniel’s life being ended at just 14-years-old, the devastation of his friends and family, and traumatised victims who survived being stabbed by Monzo.
The case also raises questions about how someone can go online and spend hundreds of pounds on deadly samurai swords, without any kind of checks who is the intended recipient.
In Monzo’s case, he filmed a chilling video a few weeks before the attacks, as he unboxed the weapons and promised to do “ninja stuff”.
Tragically, he went through with his promises, fuelled by delusions brought on by his chronic drug use.
