Student accused of hammer attacks stored weapons for ‘apocalypse’, court hears

The 16-year-old was wearing just his boxer shorts when he attacked the two boys and the housemaster at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devon.

The incident happened at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devon (Alamy/PA) (PA Archive)

A public schoolboy who bludgeoned two sleeping students and a teacher with hammers told one of his alleged victims to “f***ing die” and that he was storing weapons for the “apocalypse”, a court heard.

The 16-year-old was wearing just his boxer shorts when he attacked the two boys and the housemaster at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devon.

Exeter Crown Court heard that the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had armed himself with three claw hammers.

The jury has previously heard 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 shortly before 1am on June 9 last year.

Housemaster Henry Roffe-Silvester, who was asleep in his own quarters, was awoken by noises coming from the boarding house and went to investigate.

When he entered the bedroom where the 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.

In interviews recorded by the police and played to the jury, one of the alleged victims told officers he and the defendant had been friends in the previous academic year but there was a “complete change” after the summer holidays.

Over Christmas or in the spring term he sent him “unkind” messages, the boy told police.

“One I can remember… he said, ‘F***ing die’,” the boy said.

“I said to him not to say that because it is not very nice.

“There was a complete change during the summer holidays because before that he was nice.”

The boy said on one occasion the defendant took pictures of him as he changed his clothes, which he asked him to delete.

On other occasions the defendant did not “respect” the boy’s belongings and would damage them while he was away.

“There were sometimes when he could be a normal person and just nice,” the boy told police.

Asked how he made him feel, the boy said: “Why did he choose to be unkind to people when he used to be nice?

“I had known him in year nine and what good friends we had been. It was a shame he turned against me.”

The court heard teaching staff carried out searches of dormitories after items were going missing at the school and discovered the defendant kept a hammer.

“(Name) asked me had I asked the defendant why he had got a hammer in his room, and he had said he had got the idea of the apocalypse, and he was preparing for the apocalypse,” the boy said.

“The other time was the Christmas term last year and things had gone missing and there were searches and Mr Roffe-Silvester found his hammers and (name) said to me the excuse the defendant gave was the apocalypse.

“He kept mentioning in computer science about the apocalypse and how it was going to happen in 2023 or 2024.”

The boy was asked about a knife that had been recovered from his bed after the attack and he said he knew nothing about it.

The boy and the defendant shared a dormitory with another student who was also allegedly attacked in the incident.

That student told police the defendant had a “locked weapon drawer” in the dormitory which contained three hammers, pieces of a broken mirror, screwdrivers and a staplegun.

He described one occasion where he saw the “quite annoyed” defendant swinging a hammer towards two other students.

The teenager also told police he saw the defendant threaten the other alleged victim with a Swiss Army knife and showed police how he had made a stabbing or slashing motion with his arm.

“He was annoyed, not sure why, but definitely he was annoyed,” the boy said.

He told police the defendant would in their dormitory hit desks, walls and folders with a hammer.

The defendant, now aged 17, denies three charges of attempted murder.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday.