THE original Aleister Crowley is now enjoying cult status on the internet, more than 50 years after his death.
He was known in his lifetime as "the Beast" and "the wickedest man alive" for his satanic beliefs and practices. He was expelled from Italy early last century after rumours of his involvement in drug fuelled orgies and the sacrifice of babies. His motto was "do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law".
He had written "for the highest spiritual working one must accordingly choose that victim which contains the greatest and purest force, a male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable victim".
Diego was innocent and intelligent and after Edward Crowley killed him, possibly as a sacrifice to his namesake, police found in his scruffy holdall a sinister piece of paper.
It was covered in references to Aleister Crowley's teachings and symbols used in his Book of Thoth. Alongside were drawings of Aztec sacrifices and temples, and allusions to biblical and ancient Greek sacrifices. He had headed the plan delendus est Pineiro - Latin for "Pineiro is to be destroyed".
Diego's surname was Pineiro Villar. There was also a reference to Diego's Spanish birthplace. Gulles de R, notorious in the 15th century for conjuring up demons, who was executed for killing children, was also mentioned.
Mark Ellison, prosecuting, said an expert had examined the plan and decided that it was "primarily concerned with human sacrifice, chiefly the sacrifice of children and plainly the fruit of considerable study of the subject".
Crowley, the son of a wealthy brewer, died in 1947. A year later in Middlesbrough, Henry Alan Bibby was born and from his early twenties had a history of mental illness. He became estranged from his family - his father is now dead and his mother lives in a home - and has made several suicide attempts. His only two relationships over 20 years ago ended when the women he chose rejected him.
So involved did Bibby become with Crowley's legacy that in 1998 he changed his name by deed poll to that of his hero and became increasingly absorbed in his works.
In recent years the works of Crowley have seen a revival with one of the most popular satanic sites on the internet. New biographies have also been published and a foundation in his name propagates his beliefs. Crowley, who became addicted to opium, died in Hastings. Believers in the occult think that the South Coast town, which is now plagued with paedophiles, has been cursed ever since.