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| Triple killer Alexander Lewis-Ranwell not guilty of murder due to insanity | Triple killer Alexander Lewis-Ranwell not guilty of murder due to insanity |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| A man who killed three elderly men because he wrongly believed they were paedophiles has been cleared of murder. | A man who killed three elderly men because he wrongly believed they were paedophiles has been cleared of murder. |
| Exeter Crown Court heard Alexander Lewis-Ranwell battered his victims - all in their 80s - with a shovel and a hammer in a "whirlwind of destruction". | |
| He has paranoid schizophrenia and was having delusions about saving girls from a paedophile ring, jurors heard. | He has paranoid schizophrenia and was having delusions about saving girls from a paedophile ring, jurors heard. |
| The 28-year-old was found not guilty by reason of insanity after jurors decided he "did not know it was illegal". | |
| Twins Richard and Roger Carter, 84, and Anthony Payne, 80, were bludgeoned in February. | Twins Richard and Roger Carter, 84, and Anthony Payne, 80, were bludgeoned in February. |
| The court heard Mr Lewis-Ranwell was arrested and released by police twice in the lead-up to the killings. | The court heard Mr Lewis-Ranwell was arrested and released by police twice in the lead-up to the killings. |
| Hours before he began the attack he had been released from police custody after attacking a farmer with a saw. | |
| It was his second arrest in the space of 24 hours and came just seven hours after he was arrested over an attempted burglary at another farm. | |
| Three psychiatrists agreed Mr Lewis-Ranwell was insane when he battered his victims. | |
| But the prosecution had argued the defendant bore some responsibility for what happened. | |
| The court heard evidence of Mr Lewis-Ranwell's interaction with various health professionals during his three spells in custody between 8 and 11 February. | |
| After his first arrest his mother, Jill Lewis-Ranwell, had phoned police expressing "grave concerns should he be released" but he was charged and bailed. | |
| A 12-minute triage call with a mental health practitioner identified "potential psychotic symptoms present including paranoid beliefs" and a police inspector reviewing his detention wrote that he "potentially presents as a serious risk to the public if released". | |
| A forensic medical examiner - a doctor employed by G4S Health Services - deemed he was not "acutely unwell" and a full mental health assessment was not carried out. | |
| Dr Mihal Pichui told jurors he left the police station with the "expectation" he would be seen by a mental health nurse the following morning but later found out this did not happen. |