Jury to decide if police failings led to Exeter triple killings

Summarised from DevonLive's report · Updated 22 Oct, 08:02 · Archive

A jury is considering whether police and medical failings contributed to three men killed by Alexander Lewis-Ranwell in Exeter in February 2019.

Anthony Payne was killed by a hammer in his house on Bonhay Road in Exeter. A few hours later, Alexander Lewis-Ranwell entered the family home of brothers Dick and Roger Carter in Cowick Lane and killed them with a spade. Lewis-Ranwell, then 27, was arrested and released twice by police in Barnstaple in the 48 hours before the killings. He had a history of drug-induced psychosis and violence, was not taking medication, and his mother had warned about his declining mental state. Serious concerns were raised about his 'bizarre' behaviour in custody, but he was still released.

The inquest into the deaths, taking place at County Hall in Exeter nearly eight years later, has heard four weeks of evidence. Senior coroner Philip Spinney told the jury to identify any factors that 'more than minimally' contributed to the deaths, including whether there were 'shortcomings in the way Alexander Lewis-Ranwell was dealt with while in custody'.

Read the report

• Why was Alexander Lewis-Ranwell released twice? Jury to decide if police and medical failings led to Exeter killingsA four-week inquest into the brutal and bloody deaths of three men is drawing to a conclusionDevonLive · 21 Oct, 16:48

In this story: Alexander Lewis-Ranwell · Anthony Payne · Dick Carter · Roger Carter · Exeter · Barnstaple

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