Hammer accused said he had sleepwalked before

The defendant claimed he was sleepwalking during the attacks at Blundell's School

A teenager on trial for three counts of attempted murder at his boarding school has told a court he had sleepwalked on previous occasions before the day of the attacks.

The boy was wearing just his boxer shorts when he attacked two boys and a housemaster at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devon, the court was told.

The 17-year-old, who accepts he carried out the attacks in June 2023, but says he is not guilty of attempted murder because he was sleepwalking, told Exeter Crown Court he had no memory of the attacks.

The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies the charges.

Representing the boy, Kerim Fuad KC, asked him: "Are you aware of having sleepwalked in the past?"

He told the court his mother had told him he had sleepwalked 10 or 11 years ago, when she found him at the bottom of the staircase.

"The only rational thing I could think of was I was sleepwalking," he said about the attacks at the school.

He said he had gone to sleep just wearing his boxer shorts on the night of the attacks but the next thing he remembered was "the whole room was covered in blood".

"I don't remember doing anything," he said.

'Zombie apocalypse'

The teenager said he slept with a hammer under his pillow "for protection from the zombie apocalypse".

"I thought the apocalypse was real and I do today," he said.

"Zombies are vicious creatures."

The defendant said he liked the victims.

One was a "very generous and friendly boy" and the other was "very kind", he said.

"There were times we had arguments or disagreements," he said about the younger boy.

"They did not last a long time, not really. I was happy about sharing a room with him and the older boy."

He said his housemaster Henry Roffe Silvester had questioned him about bullying the younger boy in the dorm.

The defendant said: "I did not perceive it as that."

Previously, the jury was told that the two boys were asleep in cabin-style beds in one of the school’s boarding houses when the defendant climbed up and attacked them.

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

When he entered the bedroom, he saw a silhouetted figure standing in the room who turned towards him and repeatedly struck him over the head with a hammer, the court heard.

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.

The trial continues.