Three pensioners killed on same day in frenzied attacks, inquests told

Three pensioners were killed on the same day in their own homes during frenzied attacks in Devon, joint inquests have heard.

Anthony Payne, 80, was attacked with a hammer and identical twins Dick and Roger Carter, 84, were bludgeoned to death with a shovel.

They were all killed by Alexander Lewis-Ranwell, now 35, on 10 February, 2019.

The attacks took place three hours apart at two houses a mile and a half away from each other in Exeter.

Philip Spinney, the senior coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, told a jury that hours before Mr Payne was attacked, Lewis-Ranwell had been released from police custody after being arrested for attacking elderly farmer John Ellis with a saw.

This was his second arrest in the space of 24 hours and occurred just seven hours after he had been arrested for attempted burglary at another farm.

He was released from custody at Barnstaple police station at 2.49am on 9 February but returned there seven hours later after attacking Mr Ellis.

"You will hear evidence that after he was booked into custody, Mr Lewis-Ranwell was escorted to a cell, at which time he took hold of an officer's taser and began pulling to release it from the holster," Mr Spinney said.

"He was restrained and searched and placed in a cell."

He was the subject of risk assessments and reviews and while in custody had to be moved into "three separate cells after damaging them," said Mr Spinney.

Police officers described his behaviour as "disturbed and aggressive".

He was seen by a force medical examiner and an assessment under the Mental Health Act was not recommended, but he was to be seen by a mental health nurse the next morning.

Mr Spinney said Lewis-Ranwell was not seen by the nurse before he was released from custody on 10 February.

He then travelled from Barnstaple to Exeter where he killed Mr Payne and the Carter brothers.

The next morning Lewis-Ranwell was arrested for the third time, for affray and possessing an offensive weapon, following an incident at a hotel in Exeter.

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Mr Spinney said: "Later that day, a Mental Health Act assessment was completed where it was concluded that he was acutely psychotic.

"At that time, it was not known that he had killed Anthony Payne, Dick and Roger Carter.

"And as the police investigation progressed, he was identified as the suspect and was arrested in hospital."

The hearing at County Hall, Exeter, heard he was later found not guilty of murder by a jury by reason of insanity and detained indefinitely in a psychiatric unit.

Lewis-Ranwell, originally from Croyde, north Devon, has been listed as an "interested person" during the inquests but is not taking part or being legally represented.

The inquests continue.

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