Dibs

She’s on trial in London for murdering an old woman, and 18-year-old Kemi Adeyoola claims that the pile of notes which lawmakers are calling her “murder manual” are instead the manuscript for a novel-in-progress. She wrote the notes while in jail for shoplifting when she was sixteen. After serving that sentence, Adeyoola became a prostitute, then was arrested for murder after her DNA was found on 84-year-old Anne Mendel’s corpse and the teen was taped attempting to negotiate a bribe that would have given her an alibi. Now the jail-notes are being used as evidence in her murder trial. According to Life Style Extra, she told the court yesterday that being in jail for shoplifting “was the first time I had truly been placed away from my family against my will. I was bored, frustrated, a bit depressed. I had always considered writing a book. I’d like to be an author.” The title of the manuscript was Making Life Count. It included weight-loss targets, a resolution to take driving lessons and buy fake academic-achievement certificates on the Web. It also describes stalking and robbing an old lady, then beheading and dismembering her. In court, Adeyoola explained: “I was 16 and had never written anything before. I’d been reading crime thriller books … and it fascinated me and I thought I’d give it a go…. I wanted to do something important while I was in custody and I thought writing a novel was pretty important.” The notes included lists of equipment such as a butcher knife, guns and tranquilizer pills. She told the court that these were for her fictional character to use in the fictional crime: “This was to be a crime thriller, a murder was to take place.” She denies murdering Mrs. Mendel.