Web obsession led to savage murder of man

A GERMAN office worker was found guilty yesterday of the savage murder of a British man whose girlfriend he had become obsessed with after they met on a website.

David Heiss, aged 21, stabbed Matthew Pyke 86 times after travelling from Germany and forcing his way into the couple’s flat in Nottingham, England.

Before he died following the attack in September last year, the court heard that Pyke, aged 20, had managed to write “Dav” – the first three letters of Heiss’s name – on the side of his computer using his own blood.

Heiss, who denied the murder and said he was acting out of self-defence, was given a life prison sentence and told he would serve at least 18 years in jail.

The court heard Heiss had become infatuated with Pyke’s girlfriend Joanna Witton through a war games website the couple ran together from their flat.

He began bombarding Witton with messages of love, visited the couple twice and pestered them until finally they blocked him from their website.

Days before the murder, he sent an email to Pyke saying he had “something I would like to give to you.”

“It was an act that was born of obsession and hatred in equal measure,” said prosecutor Shaun Smith.

Heiss flew from Frankfurt and made his way to the couple’s home. He waited until Witton had left for work before forcing his way in and launching a ferocious attack on Pyke.