Blundells School 'zombie apocalypse' hammer attacker Thomas Wei Huang unmasked by judge

A public schoolboy who attacked two sleeping students and a teacher with hammers at Blundells School in Devon can now be named as 17-year-old schoolboy Thomas Wei Huang after an order preventing his identification was lifted by a judge.

Huang was convicted on three counts of attempted murder in June after he attacked the two students in their sleep with a hammer at Blundells School in Tiverton, Devon. At Exeter Crown Court last month, the teen was detained for life with a minimum of 12 years after being found guilty of attempted murder.

The trial at Exeter Crown Court heard him claim he was sleepwalking when a school housemaster said he was set upon by the teen. Henry Roffe-Silvester said he was asleep in his quarters on June 9 when he was awoken by noises from the boarding house - where students stay during term time - and went to investigate, but was set upon by the teenager, who was wearing just his boxer shorts.

The two-month trial heard that he was "on a mission" to protect himself from a zombie apocalypse when he carried out the attack.

The court heard that the teen 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 just before 1am. Mr Roffe-Silvester went to investigate, and upon entering the bedroom, where the attack happened, he spotted a silhouetted figure standing in the room.

The figure then turned toward him and repeatedly struck him over the head with a hammer. The two boys attacked by the teen suffered skull fractures, injuries to their ribs, spleens, a punctured lung and internal bleeding. Mr Roffe-Silvester suffered six blows to his head.

The court heard that another student fleeing his bedroom had heard shouting and swearing and called 999, believing an intruder had broken into the boarding quarters. The two boys were discovered in their beds a few minutes later. The two boys are living with the "long-term consequences" of the attack but have no memory of the incident.

The teenager has accepted carrying out the attacks but told the jury he had no recollection of them taking place, claiming to have fallen asleep on the evening of June 8 and awaking to see the blood-covered room. He told the court: “I remember being in the room. The room was covered in blood. What I could see was blood. I didn’t hear anything. I remember walking out to the corridor.”

One expert called at trial, Dr John O’Reilly, said he did not believe the boy was asleep because a sleepwalker does not initiate violence because it is triggered by noise or touch. Giving evidence, the boy said he kept two hammers by his bed “for protection” from the “zombie apocalypse”.

During proceedings, Huang said: “I feel very terribly sorry for all three individuals because of what I did to them. I feel very sorry for everyone, the families and themselves.”

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Inspector Dave Egan said: “This was an unprovoked attack on two schoolboys as they slept in their beds. The assaults were both brutal and savage and I have no doubt that his intent was to kill. Our detectives worked tirelessly to prove that the offender had indeed been fully conscious when committing this horrendous attack, which had been months in the planning.”