After injuring one man who had fought back and managed to wrestle a steak knife from his hand, Gonzalez calmly told his victim: “Sorry, I am a schizophrenic. I can’t help it.”

Richard Horwell, for the prosecution, told a jury at the Old Bailey in Central London that Gonzalez, who had a history of using hard drugs, had become “bored and frustrated with his existence”.

He said that Gonzalez, who had no friends but enjoyed playing computer games, could not cope with growing up to become a man. “In September 2004, the defendant pursued a campaign of murder from the South Coast to London,” Mr Horwell said. “When he was later interviewed he said that he had wanted to kill at least ten victims and thereby become a renowned serial killer.”

He added that Gonzalez’s “bizarre behaviour” was caused by his desire to seek excitement from excessive consumption of alcohol and misuse of a variety of drugs, including cocaine, Ecstasy, amphetamine and ketamine.

Gonzalez, of Woking, Surrey, denies murdering Marie Harding, 73, Kevin Molloy, 46, Derek Robinson, 75, and his wife Jean, 68, between September 15 and 17, 2004. He admits manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility and the court was told that he claimed to have heard voices telling him to kill.

The weekend before the killings, Gonzalez went to a rave party in Hackney, East London, and took a variety of drugs before returning home and running naked in the street.

On the day of his first attack he armed himself with a steak knife from his home and took a train to Portsmouth. After spotting Peter King, 61, walking with his wife and their dog in a remote area, Gonzalez lunged at the man and shouted: “I’m gonna kill you.”

Mr King suffered cuts to his head and throat but survived after wrestling with his attacker. It was then that Gon- zalez calmly said he was schizophrenic before running away.

Gonzalez later took a train to Worthing, where he bought a new weapon and attacked Mrs Harding as she walked from her daughter’s house to her home in Southwick. He surprised the pensioner from behind in a secluded copse, inflicting deep and fatal wounds to her neck and back. In an interview with police Gonzalez said that she had looked like a school teacher, and that he did not like school teachers.

The next day Gonzalez travelled to London and stole two large kitchen knives from the John Lewis store in Oxford Street before going drinking in the West End. At 5.20am the next day, he used both knives to attack Mr Molloy, a pub landlord, inflicting multiple wounds to the face, neck, chest and stomach.

Gonzalez went on to kill Mr Robinson, a retired paediatrician, and his wife at their home in Highgate, North London. Mr Robinson had dedicated his life to the welfare of children in the Third World and treating child torture victims in Africa. His wife was a music teacher.

Mr Horwell said the defence accepted that Gonzalez was the killer. He added: “Gonzalez has claimed that he was acting under the control of voices, that he was being compelled by the voices to kill. We do not accept the veracity of those claims.

“The details not only change from claim to claim but Gon-zalez has in the past accepted that he deliberately fabricated symptoms of a mental illness in order to avoid being sent to prison.”

The jury was discharged because one juror knew a relative of one of the murder victims. The case is due to reopen before a new jury today.

TRAIL OF TERROR

September 12, 2004 Attends rave in Hackney

September 13 Returns home to Woking, and runs naked in street

September 15, 11.30am Goes to Portsmouth and tries to kill Peter King, 61, who survives with cuts; 4.10pm stabs Marie Harding, 73, in neck and back near Brighton. She dies at scene; 7.15pm Returns home and tells mother scratches to neck and arm caused while clearing friend’s garden

September 16, 7.49pm Steals kitchen knives and spends night drinking in West End

September 17, 5.20am Stabs Kevin Molloy, 46, to death in Tottenham; 7am breaks into home in Hornsey and stabs Koumis Constantinou, who survives; 7.50am stabs Derek Robinson, 75, and his wife, Jean, 68, to death in Highgate; 12.50pm Arrested at Tottenham Court Road Tube station

Explore Law

• Corporate Law

• Public Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Student Law

• Law Reports

Times Recommends

• Clifford Chance sets out to improve its public image
• Bennett starts 16-year sentence for Refco fraud
• FSA challenged over insider trading case