A series of ‘catastrophic’ failures contributed to the deaths of three elderly men at the hands of a mentally ill man who went on a killing spree in Exeter, an inquest has found.
Anthony Payne, 80, and twin brothers Dick and Roger Carter, 84, were attacked in their homes by paranoid schizophrenic Alexander Lewis-Ranwell in February 2019.
He was suffering from severe delusions at the time, exhibiting bizarre behavior and wrongly believed the men he killed were paedophiles holding people prisoner.
The triple killer was subsequently cleared of their murders on the grounds of insanity and detained in hospital. Now, nearly eight years on, an inquest into how and in what circumstances the three men died has taken place.
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Lewis-Ranwell was released despite ‘grave concerns’ about his state of mind and disturbing behavior in the cells. Within hours of walking free he had travelled to Exeter and killed the men in what he later described as a ‘whirlwind of destruction’.
Much of the inquest focused on why he was not detained for assessment under the Mental Health Act 1983 and whether warning signs about the danger he posed were missed.
Lewis-Ranwell, then aged 27, had a history of drug-induced psychosis and violent behavior. He was known to police and mental health services and had twice been sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2016 and 2017.
On the morning of February 10, 2019, he travelled from Barnstaple to Exeter by taxi and bus. On the way, he had several chilling encounters with members of the public, including the taxi driver who thought he might strangle him with rosary beads.
Lewis-Ranwell walked from St David’s Station along Bonhay Road and entered the house of Anthony Payne. CCTV showed the killer opening the front door.
Mr Payne, a quiet-living pensioner, had been feeding his cats and taking the bins out that morning. He was found dead upstairs. Lewis-Ranwell killed him with a hammer. He died of blunt force head injury.
Lewis-Ranwell then walked to Cowick Lane via Exeter city center. Along the way he had further disturbing encounters – chasing one man from St David’s Church, posing as a policeman at Exeter University and reducing a teenage girl to tears due to his menacing manner.
Dick and Roger Carter lived alone in a detached house. There was CCTV evidence that one of the brothers may have seen Lewis-Ranwell trying to enter the front gate and ushered him away.
The killer walked around their property, near the Cowick Barton pub, climbed over a rear wall and fatally attacked the twins with a spade he picked up in the garden.
They died of head and facial injuries. Dick Carter was later found deceased in the kitchen and Roger Carter on the stairs.
The jury heard four weeks of evidence. Much of the focus was on Lewis-Ranwell’s interactions with police and the mental health services in the lead-up to the killings, particularly the two crucial periods he spent in custody at Barnstaple Police Station on February 8 and 9.
Police officers who dealt with him described him as ‘disturbing and aggressive’.
Lewis-Ranwell, a privately educated, grade-A student, originally from Kent, started experimenting with drugs as a teenager, particularly cannabis, the inquest heard.
After the family moved to North Devon, he attended fee-paying West Buckland School. After periods travelling to different countries and working as a railway fencer and at polo yards, he started to show signs of mental illness.
By 2013 he was living on a campsite, taking drugs and showing signs of paranoia, believing he was being monitored by electrical devices. His mother said he was clearly delusional.
He was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2016 and again in 2017 after violent incidents.
On February 8, 2019, police were called just after midnight to a report of a man with a drill in the Castle Inn pub in Combe Martin. The landlord said they had a ‘crazy guy’ in the pub being aggressive.
Police arrived and spoke to Lewis-Ranwell outside but allowed him to go on his way. Eight hours later, the owner of a farm called 999 after finding a ‘strange man’ tending to her horse. She described him as scruffy-looking, rambling, and not making much sense.
She was terrified and reduced to tears by the encounter. Lewis-Ranwell was arrested for the first time but bailed in the early hours of the next morning. He was arrested again on Saturday, February 9, after attacking an elderly man with a 4ft saw at his home in Goodleigh.
Farmer John Ellis called 999 and reported the ferocious attack, describing Lewis-Ranwell as ‘crazy’ and ‘bloody dangerous’.
‘He’s going to kill somebody,’ he added. ‘He’s just attacked me again. My God, this man’s really dangerous, I tell you.’
Armed police chased Lewis-Ranwell over a neighboring field and arrested on suspicion of causing GBH with intent. The inquest was shown bodycam of that arrest during which Lewis-Ranwell resisted and needed to be restrained.
The jury heard extensive evidence about Lewis-Ranwell’s behavior during both periods in custody. His mother spoke to police officers over the phone and expressed ‘grave concerns’ about her son. She feared for his safety and others if he was released.
‘I believed he was having a psychotic episode. I knew immediately he was having a mental health episode and would likely need to be sectioned,’ she told the inquest.
He was visited by Dr Pichiu on the evening of Saturday 9. After speaking to Lewis-Ranwell for 15 minutes, he concluded he was not suffering from an acute medical condition, was not delusional and did not warrant an out-of-hours Mental Health Act Assessment.
He left a written instruction for a Liaison and Diversion nurse to see him the next morning. But before that assessment could take place, Lewis-Ranwell was released on bail for the second time.
The jury was asked to consider the instruction left by Dr Pichiu, his assessment of Lewis-Ranwell and whether there were any shortcomings that probably or possibly contributed to the deaths.
The jury concluded it was ‘impossible to understand’ what was meant by his instructions. Lewis-Ranwell was arrested two days after the killings. He was involved in an affray at the Rougemont Hotel in the center of Exeter. CCTV showed him chasing members of staff around the car park and smashing a lampshade against a car.
The moment police tasered him as he walked down the hotel lobby stairs was also recorded. At the time of his arrest, police did not know he had killed three men. He was charged with murder after the discovery of the men’s bodies on February 12, 2019.
A trial took place in Exeter in November and December of 2019. Lewis-Ranwell was found not guilty by reason of insanity and detained by a hospital order. The verdict meant he bore no criminal responsibility for the killings. As an interested party, he was asked if he wanted to take part in the inquest but declined.
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