Man convicted of killing three pensioners in Exeter attacks found insane

Joint inquests in Exeter examined the February 10 2019 murders of three pensioners by Alexander Lewis-Ranwell, now 35. Anthony Payne, 80, was bludgeoned with a hammer, while identical twins Dick and Roger Carter, both 84, were killed with a shovel; the attacks happened three hours apart in residences about 1.5 miles apart. In the days preceding the killings, Lewis-Ranwell had been arrested twice - first for attempted burglary and then for assaulting farmer John Ellis with a saw - and was released from Barnstaple police station on February 9, despite being described by officers as aggressive and damaging cells.

He was not seen by a mental-health nurse before his release on February 10, traveled to Exeter, and committed the murders. A subsequent mental-health assessment deemed him acutely psychotic; a jury later returned a verdict of not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, resulting in indefinite detention in a psychiatric unit. Family members of the victims gave statements describing the victims’ lives and the tragedy.