# Custody failures contributed to Exeter pensioners’ killings, inquest jury finds

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/series-of-failures-allowed-mentally-ill-man-to-be-freed-from-custody-hours-before-he-bludgeoned-three-pensioners-to-death-inquest-jury-concludes/
- Published: 2026-10-28T01:35:05+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-28T01:48:15+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16243571/failures-allowed-ill-man-bluedgon-pensioners-death.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: Art, Culture, World

## Key points

- Inquest jury found custody failures contributed to three deaths.
- A requested mental health nurse follow-up did not happen.
- Families called for national lessons and lasting change.

## Summary

An inquest jury concluded that failures by police and healthcare professionals contributed to the deaths of three pensioners killed by Alexander Lewis-Ranwell in Exeter in February 2019. The findings matter because the jury said shortcomings in managing his mental health while in custody probably made a more than minimal contribution to the deaths.

Lewis-Ranwell had been arrested twice in the days before the killings, including after attacking a farmer with a saw, but was released without a Mental Health Act assessment; a requested follow-up with a mental health nurse did not take place. He later killed Anthony Payne, 80, and twins Dick and Roger Carter, both 84. After a subsequent arrest, he was assessed as acutely psychotic; he was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity and detained indefinitely in a psychiatric unit. The victims’ families called for lasting changes and a national review of guidance and training.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.