A pupil at a £45,000-a-year boarding school launched a hammer attack on two sleeping roommates that broke their skulls, a court has heard.
The 16-year-old, who was a pupil at Blundell’s school in Tiverton, Devon, launched the late-night assault in one of the dormitories in June.
On the first day of the teenager’s trial at Exeter Crown Court, it was alleged that the defendant, who cannot be named because of his age, repeatedly struck the first victim about his head and back, fracturing his skull and damaging his spleen, lung and ribs.
He is then accused of approaching a second boy, hitting him on the side of the head multiple times with the hammer before striking him on the arm with the claw section, resulting in a large gouging wound.
The jury was told that both boys were lucky to survive the attack and prosecutors said the attacker’s intention must have been to kill.
The court heard that both victims have been left with permanent injuries as a result of the attack and their cognitive function has been affected.
It is alleged that after attacking his two schoolmates, the defendant then allegedly struck a housemaster, Henry Roffe-Silvester, who tried to stop him.
‘The crimes are horrifying’
Opening the case, James Dawes KC, prosecuting, told the jury: “The crimes we are dealing with took place on June 9 2023.
“The crimes are horrifying, a hammer attack on two sleeping teenage boys at Blundell’s school in Tiverton.”
Mr Dawes continued: “The defendant was awake and decided to put into action a plan to kill [the pair]. He decided to do it while they slept in their beds … He owned four claw hammers and kept them in the bedroom. He selected a hammer and quietly climbed up onto the first boy’s cabin bed and smashed a hammer down onto his head multiple times. He also hit his back.
“The blows to his head broke his skull into pieces and the blows to his back damaged his spleen, a lung and ribs.
“He approached the other boy’s cabin bed. He too was asleep. The defendant climbed on to the bed and smashed a hammer down on the side of his head multiple times, breaking his skull. He hit his upper arm with the claw, gouging out a wound.
“The defendant’s intention must have been to kill both boys – astonishingly, they both survived.
“Their survival was due to the prompt arrival of astonishingly professional paramedics and the skilful work of the doctors and surgeons to save their lives.
“The two boys were however very badly injured and sadly neither will be completely the same again. Their heads are permanently damaged and their cognitive function not as it was.
“Mercifully neither victim has any memory of these attacks because both were attacked in their sleep. They recall going to bed and then waking in hospital.”
The jury was told that there was a lot of blood on the boys’ beds and on the floor of the dormitory, in Petergate House, with those who witnessed the scene describing it as “horrific”.
Blundell’s is a coeducational private boarding school that takes male and female day and boarding pupils.
‘Pretty unpleasant and distressing’
Mr Roffe-Silvester was the housemaster at the Petergate House, where he lived with his wife and young family, and where boys slept in small bedrooms catering for two to four pupils.
Mr Dawes warned the jury that the evidence in the case was “pretty unpleasant and distressing” and the jury may be “horrified” when they first hear what happened.
He said: “The hammer attack took place around 00.50am and the 999 call to the ambulance and police was 00.57am.
“It took place in one of the bedrooms, number 10, on the second floor of Petergate House. It had three beds in it, two cabin beds and a low single bed.
“There were three boys in that room.”
“One was a 15-year-old boy who had one of the cabin beds. The second boy was 16 years old and the third boy was the defendant and he was 16 years old.
The defendant, who is now 17, denies three counts of attempted murder against his two roommates and Mr Roffe-Silvester.
His family sat in the public gallery.
The trial continues.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
