Teenager guilty of attempted murder after Blundell's School hammer attack
The trial's been taking place at Exeter Crown Court
Last updated 21st Jun 2024
A teenager who claimed he was sleepwalking has been found guilty of attempted murder after attacking two sleeping students and a teacher with hammers at a boarding school in Devon.
The youngster, aged 16 at the time who cannot be named for legal reasons, was accused of three counts in connection with the incident at Blundell's School in Tiverton in June last year.
The now 17 year old assaulted the two boys and housemaster Henry Roffe-Silvester.
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 attack. The boy is accused of arming himself with three claw hammers and waiting for the two boys to be asleep before attacking them.
What happened at Blundell's School?
Mr 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.
What did the defendant say?
The defendant, now aged 17, 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.