Man ‘killed three elderly victims in two attacks’

A MAN with a history of mental illness killed three elderly men hours apart because of a deluded belief they were part of a paedophile ring, a court has heard.

Paranoid schizophrenic Alexander Lewis-Ranwell, 28, battered Anthony Payne, 80, with a hammer before bludgeoning to death with a shovel 84-year-old twins Dick and Roger Carter.

The killings took place at two houses just a mile-and-half away from each other in Exeter and only three hours apart on February 10.

Just hours before Lewis-Ranwell attacked Mr Payne in a bedroom in his home, he had been released from police custody after being arrested for attacking a farmer with a saw.

Exeter Crown Court heard 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.

After killing Mr Payne, he continued walking the streets before coming upon the Carters’ home around three hours later. CCTV caught one of the brothers ushering him out of the property when he tried to get in through the front gates. Richard Smith QC, prosecuting, said: “Undeterred, this defendant want around the back of the house and scaled a wall.

“He took up a spade from the garden and went into the Carter brothers’ house. Once inside, the defendant beat both brothers to death with blows to the head from the spade.”

Mr Smith said Lewis-Ranwell’s suffered from delusions – and on February 10 wrongly believed his victims “were in some way involved in an undercover and established paedophile ring that was holding and abusing victims”.

Lewis-Ranwell, from Croyde, north Devon, denies three charges of murder by reason of insanity. The trial was adjourned until Monday.