Officer told mother her son was "crazy" before Exeter killings, inquest hears
Jill Lewis-Ranwell described the moment a police officer described her son's state of mind
A police officer phoned the mother of a man who would go on to kill three elderly men that her son was “crazy”, inquests have been told.
Alexander Lewis-Ranwell, now 35, had been arrested twice within 24 hours and released shortly before he brutally attacked three men in their Exeter homes.
Anthony Payne, 80, was killed with a hammer, while twins Roger and Dick Carter, 84, were fatally injured by a shovel on February 10 2019.
Jill Lewis-Ranwell had only been told of her son’s first release from custody and was unaware – as she was desperately trying to find him – that he was already back at Barnstaple police station after attacking a farmer with a saw.
Having still been unable to contact him, she reported him missing via 101 on the afternoon of February 10.
Devon Coroner’s Court heard Mrs Lewis-Ranwell received a call from the police to tell her that her son had spent most of the previous day in custody having been arrested for the second time and had been released that morning.
She then explained to the court she got a further call from an officer.
“He introduced himself and said that I might know that Alex had come into contact with the police,” she said.
“We had a similar conversation around that he wasn’t well, I couldn’t find him, and that I was concerned for his welfare.
“I was so concerned about him, I was desperate to find somebody that had seen him, and I asked the officer had you actually seen him?
“He said, ‘Yes, I have. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but your son is crazy’. It’s not the sort of thing a mother really wants to hear.
“But in fact, I was actually quite pleased that somebody that had seen him agreed with me that his state of mind was not good.
“I said we’ve been desperately trying to find him and we’ve driven around North Devon and we tried to contact him.
“He said to me that it’s good that you’re taking your parental responsibilities seriously because a lot of people don’t and they walk away when they’re in this situation because it’s such a difficult one to deal with.”
Earlier, Mrs Lewis-Ranwell told the jury that her first interaction with the police had been two days earlier when her son phoned from custody after he was arrested on suspicion of burglary.
An officer ended the call because of her son becoming “aggressive and rude” towards her.
Mrs Lewis-Ranwell said she phoned back and spoke with an officer and explained that she believed he was having a psychotic episode and spent some time describing his behaviour when unwell.
“I thought they ought to know his type of behaviour, we’ve seen it before, that he can get violent, aggressive and confrontational,” she said.
The court heard that at 2am the following day, an officer phoned Mrs Lewis-Ranwell to inform her that her son was being released.
“The lady officer called me to say they were going to let Alex go. I was in disbelief,” she said.
“I told her that it was madness. It was the middle of the night, he wasn’t well, the temperature was freezing, he had nowhere to go.
“Unbeknownst to me at the time he had no phone either.”
The inquests also heard evidence from the custody sergeant who dealt with Lewis-Ranwell following his first arrest.
Sergeant Heather Smith said as he had disclosed two previous detentions under the Mental Health Act and she organised for him to be reviewed by mental health professionals.
They concluded he was fit to be detained did not need to be assessed under the Mental Health Act.
The court heard Lewis-Ranwell made some strange comments to her about horses and being run over by a car.
“He made odd comments, so yes that’s why I put him down to see the mental health practitioner,” she said.
“People say a lot of things when they come into custody, a lot of weird stuff, trying to get a rile from either myself or one of the officers.
“It’s a long time ago but I trust my medical professionals in custody.”
The inquests continue.