Schoolboy who attacked sleeping students with hammer in bloody rampage jailed

The teen, now 17, accepted responsibility for the hammer attacks, but claimed he was sleeping at the time and only remembered waking up to see the room "covered in blood"

A teenage schoolboy has been jailed for attacking two students and a teacher with hammers while "on a mission" to protect himself from a zombie apocalypse.

The 17-year-old boy, who was 16 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted on three counts of attempted murder in June after he attacked the two students in their sleep with a hammer at Blundells School in Tiverton, Devon. At Exeter Crown Court today, the teen was detained for life with a minimum of 12 years after being found guilty of attempted murder.

The trial at Exeter Crown Court heard him claim he was sleepwalking when a school housemaster said he was set upon by the teen. Henry Roffe-Silvester said he was asleep in his quarters on June 9 when he was awoken by noises from the boarding house - where students stay during term time - and went to investigate, but was set upon by the teenager, who was wearing just his boxer shorts. The two-month trial heard that he was "on a mission" to protect himself from a zombie apocalypse when he carried out the attack.

The boy was accused of arming himself with three claw hammers, and of waiting for his two victims to fall asleep before he attacked them. The two boys attacked by the teen suffered skull fractures, injuries to their ribs, spleens, a punctured lung and internal bleeding. Mr Roffe-Silvester suffered six blows to his head.

The court heard that another student fleeing his bedroom had heard shouting and swearing and called 999, believing an intruder had broken into the boarding quarters. He has accepted carrying out the attacks, but told the jury he had no recollection of them taking place, claiming to have fallen asleep on the evening of June 8 and awaking to see the blood-covered room.

He told the court: “I remember being in the room. The room was covered in blood. What I could see was blood. I didn’t hear anything. 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.”