THE 17-year-old boy sentenced to life imprisonment for a horrifying hammer attack on two schoolboys and a teacher at a Devon boarding school has been named.

Mrs Justice Cutts lifted the restrictions on naming the teenager, revealed as Thomas Wei Huang, on Friday, November 1.

Huang denied three counts of attempted murder – claiming he had been sleepwalking – but was found guilty by a jury following a 10-week trial at Exeter Crown Court.  

He had been a pupil at Blundell’s School in Tiverton when he launched his ferocious attack on two dormmates, aged 15 and 16, as they slept in their beds on June 9, 2023.

The court heard that at around 12.50am, Huang, who was 16 at the time, armed himself with one or more claw hammers and quietly climbed up onto the first victim’s cabin bed.

With the victim still asleep, Huang smashed a hammer down onto his head multiple times, breaking his skull in several places.

He then rained down further blows onto the victim’s back, damaging his spleen, one of his lungs and his ribs.

Huang, dressed in just his boxer shorts, then climbed up onto the second victim’s bed and hit him repeatedly over the head, fracturing his skull in multiple places.

Housemaster Henry Roffe-Silvester, who was asleep in his own quarters, was awoken by noises coming from the dormitory and went to investigate.

He found the room in darkness and could make out the silhouette of the offender who immediately turned and struck the housemaster over the head with a hammer.

Mr Roffe-Silvester retreated down the corridor and was hit repeatedly before he managed to disarm the offender.

Several pupils were woken by the commotion and came to the aid of the victims before an ambulance was called.

Emergency services arrived at the scene within minutes and provided life-saving care to the two teenage victims, who were both rushed to hospital in a critical condition.

The court heard that they both survived due to the prompt arrival of astonishingly professional paramedics and the skilful work of the doctors and surgeons.

Huang was arrested at the scene and was later charged with attempted murder.

He told police under interview that he accepted carrying out the attacks - but denied attempted murder, claiming that he had been sleepwalking after watching horror films.

He also said he kept hammers as he feared a “zombie apocalypse”.

The investigation uncovered numerous internet searches where Huang had researched questions such as, “what happens if you hit someone on the head with a hammer?” He had also researched attacking people in their sleep.

In the months before the attack, he had searched for information about child serial killers and searched for “rampage killers” and “school massacres” and whether young people went to prison.

Huang was given the life sentence at Exeter Crown Court on Friday, October 18.

The sentence stipulates a minimum of 12 years before eligibility for parole and is minus 495 days already spent in custody.

Previously he denied three counts of attempted murder but was found guilty by a jury in June following a 10-week trial at Exeter Crown Court.