A homophobic man with a long-standing obsession with extreme violence was convicted of battering a man to death with a claw hammer in a darkened cemetery. Erik Feld, 37, hid in the shadows behind a monument before launching himself on unarmed Ranjith Kankanamalage in the early hours of the morning, a court heard. Mr Kankanamalage, 50, was hit 12 times in the face & head with the hammer in East London, UK, causing 'catastrophic' injuries. The victim was found by a member of the public on a path in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park later on August 16, 2021. Feld said he sometimes went out with a weapon 'for example a hammer' in case an 'opportunity presented itself'. Under cross-examination, Feld embarked on an astonishing homophobic rant about the victim. 'The evidence clearly demonstrates that prior to that evening, he had a deep-seated, long-standing serious interest in extreme violence using a hammer and that was an urge that could have been visited, perhaps, on anyone.' The Old Bailey jury deliberated for 3 hours & 23 minutes to unanimously find Feld guilty of murd3r. Mr Justice Bryan adjourned sentencing for a psychiatric report to be prepared on the defendant who has a personality disorder. Previously, Mr Cavan had told how Feld's interest in extreme violence first emerged during a mental health assessment in 2017. Giving evidence in his trial, Feld claimed he had taken the hammer to hit trees for stress relief. Jurors were not told Feld had 10 previous convictions for 18 offences between 2002 to August 19 2021 including criminal damage, SA, battery & possession of an offensive weapon. After the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke, from Scotland Yard, said: 'Erik Feld is a dangerous and violent man - while he has never disclosed why he attacked Ranjith with such force, he is clearly someone who is driven by an all-encompassing hatred.’ #crimetiktokers #crimejunkies #crimejunkie #crime #crimetoks #truecrimetiktok #truecrime #crimetiktok #crimetiktoker - @crimeatyourfingertips