Teenager who called himself 'the school murderer' jailed for Blundell's attacks

A teenager who called himself 'the school murderer' in a password was today jailed for life with a minimum of 12 years after the attempted murder of two students and the housemaster at an almost £50,000 a year Devon private school.

During the two-month trial Exeter Crown Court heard the teenager was wearing just his boxer shorts and was "on a mission" to protect himself from a zombie apocalypse when he carried out the unprovoked attack at Blundell's School in Tiverton in June 2023.

Mrs Justice Cutts told the defendant he struck the two pupils 'many times with both ends of the hammer' and they 'didn't know what was coming' and 'couldn't defend themselves'.

She reflected on the defendant's claim that he was 'dreaming' at the time, which she called 'untrue'.

The prosecution today reminded the court the defendant, based on his internet use, had been 'obsessed with school killings' over a period of six months - including the use of hammers - and that a password was '(his name) the school murderer'.

Other online searches undertaken by the defendant included 'consequences of being a serial killer', 'hammer murderer' and 'killing people while they sleep'.

Mrs Justice Cutts said the attacks were 'planned' and deliberate' and he had also been making searches on the internet for terms like 'killer kills victim while sleeping' and 'can a hammer kill', as well as 'youngest serial killer near Exeter'.

The prosecution said the defendant had purchased the hammers 'as weapons' in advance, which he used to attack the fellow students in the early hours of the morning while they slept - before being interrupted by housemaster Henry Roffe-Silvester who heard a noise and came to the pupils' aid.

The court was today told one of the students and the housemaster have made good recoveries but one of the victims still suffers permanent brain damage.

The youngster, who was aged 16 at the time, was convicted earlier this year after around 40 hours of deliberation by a jury.

During the trial it emerged the teenager had researched methods of murder and serial klliers, including terms such as "Killer kills victims while sleeping."

The court was told the defendant had no previous convictions and does not accept the verdict - as he maintains he was sleeping at the time - which the proseuction argued 'means his capacity for violence' could be 'well hidden'.

His defence argued the teenager was worried about a form of blackmail which may have been a unique motivating factor and cited medical evidence that he was in a dissociative state at the time of the attacks. The court was told by the defence that staff had 'failed to safeguard' the defendant and recognised his needs - and failed to adequately monitor the violent content he was viewing, which was against school rules. The defence also asserted the school 'knew he had hammers'.

What happened at Blundell's School?

Housemaster Roffe-Silvester, who was asleep in his own quarters, was woken by noises coming from the boarding house and went to investigate.

When he entered the bedroom where the alleged attack had happened, he saw a silhouetted figure standing in the room who turned towards him and repeatedly struck him over the head with a hammer.

Another student heard Mr Roffe-Silvester's shouts and swearing as he fled the bedroom and dialled 999 - believing there was an intruder.

Both boys suffered skull fractures, as well as injuries to their ribs, spleen, a punctured lung and internal bleeding.

Mr Roffe-Silvester suffered six blows to his head before he managed to disarm the defendant - and since made a full recovery.

The injured teenagers gave evidence during the trial

What did the defendant say?

The defendant, now aged 17 when convicted, accepted carrying out the attacks but said he was not guilty of three charges of attempted murder because he was sleepwalking.

He told the jury he had no recollection of the attacks and remembers falling asleep on the evening of June 8 and then seeing the room covered in blood.

"I remember being in the room. The room was covered in blood. What I could see was blood. I didn't hear anything," he told the court.

"I remember walking out to the corridor."

He added: "I knew something really bad had gone on and everyone was looking towards me.

"I didn't remember doing anything so the only rational thing I was thinking was that I was sleepwalking."

What else did the court hear?

The defendant told the court he kept two hammers by his bed "for protection" from the "zombie apocalypse".

He also had a screwdriver and a Swiss army knife in his room.

Asked to explain what a zombie apocalypse was, the boy said: "The end of the world."

The boy said he did not intend to kill either Mr Roffe-Silvester or the two boys.

"I feel very terribly sorry for all three individuals because of what I did to them. I feel very sorry for everyone, the families and themselves," he said.

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