Police warned of ‘grave concerns’ before son killed three elderly men
A PARANOID schizophrenic who killed three elderly men had twice been arrested by police over his bizarre and violent behaviour in the days leading up to the deaths, it has emerged.
Alexander Lewis-ranwell attacked a farmer just days before killing Tony Payne, 80, with a hammer and twins Dick and Roger Carter, 84, with a shovel on Feb 10.
The “whirlwind of destruction” took place three hours apart at two houses just a mile and a half away from each other in Exeter.
The former public schoolboy, who was yesterday found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, was suffering from delusions that led him to wrongly believe he was uncovering a paedophile ring, a court heard. He was ordered to be detained indefinitely at high-security Broadmoor Hospital.
Two days before the killing spree Lewis-ranwell, from Croyde, north Devon, was detained on suspicion of burglary at a farm. His mother told police she was gravely concerned about his well-being, but he was released the following morning.
He went on to attack John Ellis, 82, at his farm on Feb 9 and was taken to Barnstaple police station but he was released at 9.30am the next day and he immediately travelled to Exeter by taxi where he killed the three men.
He was arrested for a third time a day after the killings following an incident at a hotel in Exeter, where he attacked night manager Stasys Belevicius.
While in custody concerns were raised about his mental health and he was transferred to a psychiatric unit for assessment.
Yesterday Mr Ellis blamed the authorities for letting Lewis-ranwell walk free. Speaking from his home in Goodleigh, north Devon, he said: “He wanted to kill me. He would have killed me – but the saw he armed himself with broke, as did a 4ft-long stick he stabbed me in the heart with.
“It was attempted murder. If the authorities had put him away after the attack on me, then there would not have been three dead men in Exeter.”
Mr Ellis feared Lewis-ranwell would return to “finish the job and erase all witnesses” after a police officer called him the morning after the attack to say the Crown Prosecution Service did not want to proceed with the case due to “insufficient evidence”.
In an email to the CPS Mr Ellis wrote: “They [the CPS] did not even speak to me about the attempted murder of my person, the injury I sustained, the evidence that we captured – yet they took it on themselves to order the release of a potential murderer.
“You now have three murders which should never have happened and would not have happened if these highly paid idiots had done their job.”
A jury at Exeter Crown Court had to decide whether Alexander Lewis-ranwell, 28, “did not know it was against the law” when he killed the three men.
The panel of eight men and four women took six hours and 15 minutes to return their unanimous verdicts.
Three psychiatrists agreed Lewisranwell was insane at the time he battered the men to death but prosecutors argued the defendant bore some responsibility for what happened. The court heard the former scaffolder was gripped by paranoid schizophrenia and was suffering from delusions about saving girls from a paedophile ring.
After his attack on Mr Ellis there was talk of him being referred to a mental health unit, but the plans fell through.
A spokesman for Devon County Council said: “A telephone call around 7pm from the Forensic Medical Examiner confirmed in his view there that there was no evidence of acute mental illness warranting hospital admission, and that a Mental Health Act assessment was not required at this time.”
Dr David Somerfield, medical director at Devon Partnership Trust, said he would welcome an opportunity to “determine what lessons there are to be learned by any of the agencies or individuals involved”.
Before returning the verdict, the jury passed a note to the judge, Mrs Justice May, which said: “We the jury are concerned at the state of psychiatric service provision in the county of Devon. Can we be assured that the failings in care offered to Alexander Lewisranwell will be appropriately addressed following the trial?”
Mrs Justice May said: “This has been a disturbing case to hear. Three dead and two badly injured at the hands of
somebody you have found on strong psychiatric evidence was in the grip of a grossly florid psychosis.
“He will be cared for in hospital with a restriction order, which means he will not be allowed into the community until the agencies are absolutely content it is safe for him to be released.”
Afterwards, the Carter family said: “This case will, we are sure, raise questions regarding the care, monitoring and custodial treatment of the mentally ill.
“We can only hope that in the course of time, lessons learned are put into practice to ensure that there is no repetition of these awful events.”