Blundell's attacker denies wounding with intent

Blundell's School is an independent co-educational boarding and day school based in Tiverton

A teenager at a Devon boarding school who is on trial for three counts of attempted murder has denied three lesser alternative charges.

On Monday, the Judge Mrs Justice Cutts told the jury there was no dispute that the Blundell's schoolboy, who is now 17, wounded his two sleeping roommates and housemaster by hitting them with a hammer last June.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to three counts of wounding with intent.

The jury at Exeter Crown Court was told the key issue was to decide whether he sleepwalking, as the defence claimed.

If so the jury could find him not guilty on the grounds of what is called "insane automatism", a temporary insanity.

'Sleepwalking violence'

The trial judge, Mrs Justice Cutts, said the jury would have to consider the attempted murder charges first when their deliberations begin on Monday 10 June.

She said the defence must prove it was more likely than not the defendant was sleepwalking at the time he inflicted the injuries on the three victims.

The judge said the jury may have feelings of outrage and sympathy but told them to consider the evidence dispassionately and without emotion.

She said sleep forensic expert Dr Mark Pressman had told the jury that the defendant's attack was a "textbook example of sleepwalking violence".

But Dr John O'Reilly, a consulant in sleep medicine, said the defendant's internet searches about serial killers and prisons showed "strong evidence of planning".

Weapons under beds

Prosecutor James Dawes KC told the jury the defendant was "obsessed with school killings".

He added the defendant had bought four hammers after having another one confiscated earlier in 2023, with three of them being used in the attacks.

Mr Dawes said the defendant "wanted weapons in easy reach" and had hammers under his pillow along with a hammer and screwdriver under one of the victim's bed and a blade under the other victim's bed "in case he needed them".

Mr Dawes said the defendant "embarked on murder" and tried to kill the three victims.

"He intended to do it, he had been thinking about it for months," Mr Dawes said.

'Killing rage'

Mr Dawes added during his closing speech to the jury that the intervention of housemaster Henry Roffe-Silvester saved the lives of the other two victims.

The jury heard Mr Roffe-Silvester went to investigate the incident and was attacked himself.

Mr Dawes said the defendant was planning to use the claw part of the hammer to smash his roommates' skulls with before Mr Roffe-Silvester's intervention.

"The defendant was in a killing rage," he said.

"The intervention of Henry Roffe-Silvester saved those boys' lives."

The trial continues.