Public schoolboy hammer attacker unmasked: International student from Malaysia Thomas Wei Huang is named for first time after he attempted to murder two fellow pupils and teacher at £45K-a-year school

By RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT and NICK IRVING 12:28 01 Nov 2024, updated 15:39 01 Nov 2024

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This is the first picture of a 17-year-old public schoolboy who tried to murder two sleeping students and a teacher by attacking them with hammers.

Thomas Wei Huang wore only his boxer shorts in the attack at £45,000-a-year Blundell's School in Devon and used weapons he had collected to prepare for a zombie apocalypse.

Huang was detained for life last month following a trial at Exeter Crown Court, and an anonymity order preventing him from being named has now been lifted.

The teenager was born in Malaysia to a wealthy family with a London home near Battersea Power Station, and joined Blundell's in 2020.

In court, he admitted assaulting the two boys and the housemaster, but claimed he had been sleepwalking. However, a jury rejected this account and found him guilty of three counts of attempted murder.

After the attack his parents flew to the UK to be told what had happened and accompanied him during the trial.

Prosecutor James Dawes KC said the youth had carried out the attacks in a 'killing rage' after he had researched serial killers and different ways to kill.

The jury had been told Huang had fallen out with the youngest victim because he thought he had slighted him during a science lesson by laughing at him.

There was also tension between them over the attentions of a 15 year old girl at the co-educational school.

During the moments before his attack, Huang had been listening to Robin Hustin's song 'Light It Up'.

The judge said Huang played the song to 'gee yourself up' to produce the adrenaline 'to do what you did'.

One of his young victims made an excellent recovery while the older boy victim suffered brain damage - and the court was told he may have been subjected to a double beating as he crawled along his bunk bed trying to escape the hammer blows.

The judge said Huang - who had autism - became increasingly isolated and 'retreated into the online world'.

In that world he researched high profile murders like those of John Lennon, schoolboy Rikki Neave, Sarah Everard who was kidnapped, raped and murdered by policeman Wayne Couzens, soldier Lee Rigby and the Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.

Sentencing Huang, Mrs Justice Cutts said experts were unable to say how long the Malaysian born defendant would pose a risk to the public and imposed a sentence of detention for life with a minimum term of 12 years.

'You planned your offences and used hammers you had bought as weapons,' she said.

'You knew full well if you hit the boys multiple times with the hammers they would die.

'You are an intelligent boy and I am satisfied you knew the difference between right and wrong.

'In my view there remains a significant risk that you could behave in this way again. I consider that you pose a high level of danger to the public because of the nature of your offences.'

Huang had armed himself with three claw hammers and waited for the two boys to be asleep before attacking them.

The two pupils were asleep in cabin-style beds in one of the co-ed 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 woken 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 then turned towards him and repeatedly struck him over the head with a hammer.

Another student heard Mr Roffe-Silvester shouting and swearing as he fled the bedroom and dialled 999 – believing there was an intruder.

The two boys were discovered in their beds a few minutes later.

They had suffered skull fractures and injuries to their ribs, spleen, a punctured lung and internal bleeding.

The court heard both are living with the 'long-term consequences' of the attack but have no memory of the incident. One boy suffered permanent brain damage.

Mr Roffe-Silvester received six blows to his head but made a full recovery.

During the trial, Mr Dawes KC told jurors: 'The investigation has uncovered an obsession that the defendant had with one of the boys, an obsession with hammers as weapons, and an obsession with killing and killers and the killing of children.

'Mr Roffe-Silvester said he thought the defendant appeared to be 'on a mission' and afterwards his face and body relaxed.'

But one expert told the jury the boy would have been sleepwalking.

Dr Mark Pressman described the attack on Mr Roffe-Silvester as 'a textbook example of sleepwalking violence'.

Another expert, Dr John O'Reilly, said he did not believe Huang was asleep because a sleepwalker does not initiate violence because it is triggered by noise or touch.

Giving evidence, Huang said he kept two hammers by his bed 'for protection' from the 'zombie apocalypse'.

Huang added: 'I feel very terribly sorry for all three individuals because of what I did to them.'

Kerim Fuad KC, defending, described the incident as a 'tragic and extraordinary case' and said Huang has since been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

He said Huang was struggling from a combination of difficulties, including exams, issues in his personal life and an 'unhealthy interest in violence and violent films'.

'This was a very unhealthy cocktail of extreme stress,' he added.

Mr Fuad said Huang was being blackmailed by a female in a case of sexploitation, with the boy fearing she would send naked photos he had sent her to all his contacts unless he paid her money.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Inspector Dave Egan said: 'The assaults were both brutal and savage and I have no doubt that his intent was to kill.'

The family of one of the teenagers said: 'We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have assisted in our son's recovery.'

The family of the other boy said: 'I am looking forward to my family moving on now that the trial is over, and I hope my son will continue his recovery and have a good future ahead.'

Bart Wielenga, the head of Blundell's School, said: 'We will continue to make counselling available to any staff or pupils who feel in need of additional support.

'I have been very clear with the pupils that this is not an incident we whisper about or have to be ashamed of. It is part of our narrative, our shared story.'

Headmaster Bert Wielenga wrote to parents last month as Huang was being sentenced.

He wrote: 'You have stood by each other, and I have sensed no anger, bitterness or rancour. In all things you have conducted yourselves in a spirit of admirable optimism and grace.'

He said Huang - 'who was once a pupil amongst us....will have to confront that reality'.

He added: 'I have been very clear with the pupils that this is not an incident we whisper about or have to be ashamed of. It is part of our narrative, our shared story.

'We are allowed to talk about it openly and we can express our emotions safely.'

And he wrote: 'Undoubtedly, there are challenges ahead, especially with the imminent introduction of VAT on school fees, but even so, it feels like Blundell's is in an especially good place.'

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