Two lesbian lovers have been convicted of the abuse and manslaughter of a young girl who found herself at the centre of a sexual game involving vampirism, ghostly lovers, and a variety of other spirits.

The court heard how the mother of eight-year-old Ayesha Ali was seduced by her next-door neighbour, who persuaded her to end her marriage to Afsar Ali and instead embark upon a lesbian relationship with her. Kiki Mudar, 43, then used a complex network of alternate personalities, fictional characters, ghosts, demons, and angels to control Ayesha’s mother, 35 year-old Polly Chowdhury.

Mudar sent Chowdhury tens of thousands of text messages from a variety of alter-egos, including ‘Muslim spirits’ and ghostly lovers to draw her into the abuse, and eventual slaying of her own daughter. Accusing the girl of being possessed by evil spirits, they subjected her to various punishments and starved her. As the games came to a head, Ayesha’s mother bit her in imitation of the blood lust of fictional vampires, and the girl was very shortly afterwards killed by a blow to the head, reports the Daily Mail.

Although she was found naked but for her underwear and covered in bruises on her bedroom floor, neither her mother nor her lover would admit to the killing, both blaming each other. The women were cleared of murder, but convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Choudhury claimed on the night of Ayesha’s death, her lover had attempted to drown her in the bath and then smothered her with a pillow, ending an abuse ordeal that lasted for days.

The pair will be sentenced on Friday.