‘Obsessive’ schoolboy who attacked teacher and sleeping students with hammer jailed

A public schoolboy who attacked two students and a teacher with claw hammers while they slept at a boarding school in Devon has been jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years.

The 16-year-old had claimed he was sleepwalking and was “on a mission” to protect himself from a zombie apocalypse when he carried out his attack.

Jurors at Exeter Crown Court found him guilty of attempted murder after he admitted to assaulting the two boys and the housemaster at Blundell’s School in Tiverton .

The court heard that the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had waited for the two boys to be asleep in their cabin-style beds before attacking them shortly before 1am on 9 June last year.

Housemaster Henry Roffe-Silvester was awoken by the noises coming from the boarding house and went to investigate, at which point he saw a silhouetted figure standing in the bedroom.

The schoolboy turned towards him and repeatedly struck him over the head with a hammer, before he managed to flee and dial 999, believing there was an intruder.

The two victims were discovered a few minutes later, with skull fractures, as well as injuries to their ribs, spleen, a punctured lung and internal bleeding.

Neither of them have any recollection of the incident and are now living with the “long-term consequences” of the attack, while Mr Roffe-Silvester suffered six blows to the head.

During the trial, James Dawes KC, prosecuting, told jurors: “The investigation has uncovered an obsession that the defendant had with one of the boys, an obsession with hammers as weapons, and an obsession with killing and killers and the killing of children.

“He had motive, that he had planned something like this, thought about it in advance, and he was awake.

“He was using his iPad right up to the moment before the attack.”

The teenager maintained he was sleepwalking at the time of the attacks – meaning he would be not guilty of attempted murder by reason of insanity.

Relatives of the defendant also told the court about a history of sleepwalking in their family.

Giving evidence, the boy told jurors he remembered going to sleep before the attack and then seeing the dormitory covered in blood.

“I knew something really bad had gone on and everyone was looking towards me,” he said.

“I didn’t remember doing anything so the only rational thing I was thinking was that I was sleepwalking.”

He said he kept two hammers by his bed “for protection” from the “zombie apocalypse”.

The court also heard that the boy was being blackmailed by an online user, which was “on his mind every second”.

Passing sentence, Mrs Justice Cutts said the defendant was “dangerous” and only a life sentence could protect the public from further offending, as experts were unable to say how long he would pose a risk.

“It nevertheless remains the case you knew the difference between right and wrong and planned to kill the boys and obtained hammers,” she said.

“You planned your offences and used hammers you had bought as weapons. You knew full well if you hit the boys multiple times with the hammers they would die.

“You are an intelligent boy, and I am satisfied you knew the difference between right and wrong.

“I accept that in prison things will be difficult for you. In my view, there remains a significant risk that you could behave in this way again.