A public schoolboy who attacked two sleeping students and a teacher with hammers at a boarding school can now be identified as a wealthy Malaysian student.

Thomas Wei Huang, who turns 18 in January, was a boarding student at Blundell’s School in Tiverton, Devon.

During his trial at Exeter Crown Court jurors were told he had bought and hoarded three claw hammers and used the claw ends to smash the heads of his peers, 15 and 16 at the time, in June last year.

He then used the DIY tools as weapons to attack Henry Roffe-Silvester, his housemaster, who heard the disturbance and ran to the room to find a “bloodbath”.

Huang, 16 at the time of the attacks, claimed he had been sleepwalking when he carried out the vicious assaults and could not be criminally responsible for his actions.

After an eight-week trial, a jury spent around 40 hours deliberating before convicting the teenager of three counts of attempted murder against the fellow pupils and the 39-year-old maths and sports teacher. He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 12 years.

‘Killing rage’

Prosecutor James Dawes KC said the youth had carried out the attacks in a “killing rage” after he had researched serial killers and different ways to kill.

In the month before the assaults in June 2023, the teenager had looked for information about child serial killers and if they were respected in jail.

He had been listening to dance music and watching a TV horror show in the minutes before he climbed up and struck the sleeping pupils who were in cabin-style beds.

The jury had been told Huang had fallen out with the youngest victim because he thought he had slighted him during a science lesson by laughing at him.

There was also tension between him and the younger victim over the attentions of a 15-year-old girl at the co-educational school.

Defence barrister Kerim Fuad KC said the boy at the time was a “sleep-deprived and super stressed wreck” because of upcoming exams and because he was being blackmailed by a female in a case of sexploitation.

The boy feared she would send naked photos he had sent her to all his contacts unless he paid her money.

Giving evidence the boy said he had the hammers for protection against the zombie apocalypse which he believed was a real thing.

Huang joined Blundell’s School in 2020 and was one of a number of foreign pupils who attended the Devon school as full-time boarders.

‘Immature’ boy

During his evidence, Huang told the jury: “I wanted to come to England to study in a boarding school. I knew that I would have to live in school seven days a week. I was excited to be doing it.”

Huang’s brother, who is two years older than him, had also attended Blundell’s. During half-term breaks the brothers would spend time at the family’s London home in Battersea rather than returning to Malaysia.

After the attack, his wealthy parents flew to the UK from Malaysia to be told what had happened.

When Huang first appeared in the dock at Exeter magistrates’ court he was supported by his parents and his aunt.

The family would spend their longer holidays in Malaysia, London or Europe.

When asked if he was happy at the school, Huang replied: “Yes I was. I liked my friends, my teachers and the academic aspect of it. I didn’t like the sports and the food at the school.”

Huang said he enjoyed mathematics and was due to take his GCSE in that subject early.

Headmaster Bert Wielenga wrote to parents at the school last month as Huang was being sentenced.

He wrote: “You have stood by each other, and I have sensed no anger, bitterness or rancour. In all things you have conducted yourselves in a spirit of admirable optimism and grace.”

He added: “I have been very clear with the pupils that this is not an incident we whisper about or have to be ashamed of. It is part of our narrative, our shared story. We are allowed to talk about it openly and we can express our emotions safely.”

Before he was named, the court heard defence arguments that the “immature” boy was a victim of a sex crime – the sextortion – and entitled to lifelong anonymity, and his family said “naming and shaming” him would affect his mental health and “would crush him”.

‘Retreated into the online world’

The judge accepted he was a “scam victim” in the blackmail incident but the jury rejected his claim that he had been sleepwalking.

At the sentencing hearing two weeks ago the judge acknowledged that the boy had been under stress at the time, but added: “You knew the difference between right and wrong, and you had planned to kill those boys and obtained hammers as weapons.”

She said his autism disorder meant he became increasingly isolated living and studying at the school and had “retreated into the online world”.

Mrs Justice Cutts said he posed a high level of danger to the public of further violence, and it was unknown whether he would ever cease to be a threat.

She said he would have to serve a minimum of 12 years behind bars before being eligible to apply for parole.