Britain’s youngest serial killer: James Fairweather butchered two at the age of 15 and plotted to slay 15 more

A TEENAGER was yesterday unmasked as Britain’s youngest serial killer after

murdering two strangers — then plotting to slay 15 more victims.

James Fairweather was convicted of stabbing brain-damaged James Attfield 102

times then knifing to death Nahid Almanea three months later.

He was just 15 at the time.

The Sun 9

Fairweather, who can finally be named after a legal order was lifted

yesterday, was eventually caught following a 14-month manhunt while out

looking for a third victim.

The Yorkshire Ripper-obsessed teen, who admitted manslaughter but blamed

“voices in the head”, was yesterday convicted by a jury of both murders

after a two-week trial.

As he left the dock ahead of sentencing next week, the now 17-year-old

appeared to mouth “chin up” to his sobbing mum Anita, 45.

Experts are divided over whether Fairweather, who stabbed both ­victims in the

eye, is mentally ill or simply plain evil.

But James Attfield’s mum Julie Finch branded him a “monster” after the

verdict.

She added: “He was aware what he was doing, he knew right from wrong.”

Fairweather, who told one teacher he wanted “to be a murderer”, was almost

locked up days before the first murder. He had been convicted of robbing a

shop at knifepoint in his school uniform.

The defendant was told off for sniggering in court by a magistrate who warned

him in March 2014: “You are very much on the edge of custody for this

offence.”

He was given a 12-month referral order instead and three days later attacked

complete stranger James, 33, who had been left brain-damaged from a car

crash.

Fairweather later told cops he “snuck out of the house through the living-room

window” and went “looking for a sacrifice” in his home town of Colchester,

Essex.

He went on: “I couldn’t find no one. I then saw James Attfield lying there on

the grass.”

Fairweather said of father-of-five James, who had been to the pub: “He was

drunk. They were saying ‘He’s the one, do it’.

“So I started stabbing, one shot missed and went into his eye and I went into

a rage. There was a big pool of blood.”

Attfield was stabbed 102 times in a frenzied two-minute attack, Guildford

crown court was told.

Three months later Nahid, 31, was also attacked in Colchester as she walked

by a nature trail in broad daylight dressed in a Hijab and full-length

Muslim robe.

Fairweather said: “I went behind her and the voices started laughing, I

remember again they were really, really loud.

“She stumbled and I hit her in the eye, the third blow I popped her in the eye

and I went into a rage again. They were laughing in my head, going, ‘You did

it’.”

He said he knocked off her sunglasses “so I could stab her in the eye”. Asked

if he killed her because she was Muslim, he replied: “No she was a sinner, a

sacrifice.”

Fairweather was pulled in for questioning as he had a knife crime conviction

and lived near the murder scene but was allowed to go.

He was finally caught 11 months later when dog walker Michelle Sadler spotted

him lurking where Nahid was killed.

When cops arrived the teen, armed with a lock knife and gloves, told them:

“I’m waiting for someone to kill.”

He added: “I’ve done it twice before.”

A search of his home revealed a knife and a latex glove in the pocket of his

blazer. He also had a stash of serial killer books and films, including a

documentary on Peter Sutcliffe. They also found traces of Nahid’s DNA.

In interviews Fairweather claimed “voices” in his head began two years earlier

after he was bullied at school.

He said they had ordered him to carry out the killings. He told one doctor: “I

wish I had not told anyone so I could be out killing more people.”

The teen claimed he had also been told to kill the detention officer bringing

him tea at the police station. The court heard that he had wanted to kill 15

more times.

The jury was also told that Fairweather had developed a growing interest in

violent pornography as well as an obsession with serial killers, the Nazis

and cannibalism.

Two psychiatric experts said it was “highly likely” or “more than likely” he

was suffering from “psychosis” at the time of the murders.

Dr Simon Hill is a consultant psychiatrist at a secure hospital in the south

of England where Fairweather is currently a patient.

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Chilling

moment schoolboy killer acts out his first brutal murder when he stabbed a

man 102 times and gouged out victim’s eyes

Face

of Britain’s youngest serial killer: Pals say teenager was ‘quiet loner’ who

turned into a monster and threatened a MASSACRE at school

He said violence gave Fairweather a “warm and exciting” feeling, adding the

schoolboy “felt he was possessed by the devil”. But leading criminal

psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph told the jury it was “inconceivable” the

defendant had been hearing voices for two years yet nobody noticed.

Dr Joseph said: “It is significant he has not mentioned voices until he is

arrested, and then there is a torrent of voices. They are a fallback

position if arrested.

“In my view it’s inconceivable that voices would have been happening and a boy

hid it from people around him.

“It is inevitable they would have been picked up and observed.

“I think he is doing that to ­distance himself from what he has done.

“Maybe over the years he heard his internal thoughts. We can all have that

experience of audible thoughts, that is not psychosis.”

Speaking outside court, Julie Finch paid tribute to her “kind and brave son”

James Attfield.

She said: “He had been through so much already, having fought hard to overcome

the effects of brain damage suffered when he was struck by a car. He didn’t

deserve to die.

“At the time we had no idea the killer was so young — a fact that makes my

son’s death feel all the more cruel and unnecessary. James Fairweather is a

monster in our eyes — and we will never be able to forgive him.”

Nahid’s family said in a statement: “Nahid was a remarkable and gentle person

who was loved for her kind and caring nature.”

Her murderer is said to have been a normal shy boy before he “flipped” during

secondary school.

One report when he was six described him as “a quiet and well-behaved child.

He is very hard-working, kind, sensitive to the needs of others”.

He showed an early interest in darts, which he played with “down to earth dad”

James Snr, a cleaner at Colchester United FC. One local, who played with

the pair, said of the boy: “He was as quiet as a church mouse.”

However, his behaviour changed when his nan died of cancer in April 2012. An

expert said: “He believed that she was a good person who shouldn’t be taken

away.”

He became increasingly angry, repeatedly getting into trouble at secondary

school after kicking and headbutting other lads.

One female classmate at Colchester Academy said: “A teacher asked him what he

wanted to do when he was older, and he said, ‘I want to be a murderer’. Just

before his Year 11 final assembly, he said he was going to come in and shoot

everyone.” He was then allowed back into school to sit his GCSEs in

isolation after holding up a local convenience store.

A neighbour said his hospital worker mum Anita was now ­“broken”, adding:

“She is a really lovely woman.”

Nick Alston, Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex said the “deeply

disturbing case” highlights the danger of young people’s exposure to

“extreme violence and pornography”.

Judge Mr Justice Robin Spencer QC yesterday told Fairweather he will sentence

him at the Old ­Bailey next Friday.

He looked like a perv



By ROB PATTINSON



A HAIRDRESSER believes she dodged becoming James Fairweather’s third victim

when she saw him lurking in bushes.

Michelle Sadler, 41, was walking her dog near the spot where the schoolboy

knifed second victim Nahid Almanea.

At first the mum of one thought the lurker — in combat jacket and gloves — was

a paedophile.

But then, remembering cops’ warnings, Michelle calmly turned to walk away and

dialled 999.

She said: “People have told me I’ve saved lives, but the truth is I think I

saved my own life.

“I think he was waiting for me to be his third victim.”

Michelle went on: “I walk my dog close to the nature trail and was down there

on my own.

“I saw him hiding in the bushes and looking really suspicious. I nearly s***

myself when I saw him there.

“I am sure that I was going to be his next victim.

“There was just me and him there so I am not sure why he did not attack.

“I’d been to the gym so I can only think that it was because I was in my

running gear that he thought I would be too strong.

“I called the police because I thought he was a paedophile.

“It was only later I found out he had been arrested for the killing.”

Salon owner Michelle added: “When I close my eyes I see his face. I see those

thick black glasses of his staring back at me.

“I followed the case really closely online which was probably a bad idea as it

has made me an emotional wreck.

“I want to put all this behind me and get on with my life.

“People have said I should claim the £10,000 reward from Crimestoppers but

it’s not about the money for me. But then you start to think, why offer it

if they’re not prepared to pay it?”

Michelle admits she has been haunted by the events of the day Fairweather was

captured.

She believes the trauma quickened a split from her partner.

The mum explained: “It made me realise that life can be so short.

“It’s not the reason we split up but what happened on that morning took its

toll on me.

“The last 11 months have been so difficult.

“It’s been traumatic and I’ve had to move house.

“I’m not a hero, I just got lucky not to be the next victim.”

Speaking from her home in Colchester yesterday, Michelle said she was fighting

back tears when the guilty verdict came back from the jury.

She admitted: “I have tried to stay strong for my daughter but it has not been

easy.”

Police let him go free



COPS quizzing James Fairweather over Nahid Almanea’s murder 400 yards from his

house let him go because they believed his alibi that he had been in his

bedroom.

Police also said yesterday the technology to match DNA on Nahid’s body was

not available at the time.

Fairweather was not questioned at all over the earlier murder of Jim Attfield

— even though he walked free from court days before for holding up a shop

with a knife.

He had sniggered at his trial for stealing £30 and some cigars in an armed

raid. But he was released from North Essex Youth Court without a curfew or

electronic tag.

James Attfield’s mum Julie Finch said: “It’s unbelievable Fairweather was out

on the streets. He was clearly a threat to society.”

Essex Police spent £2.6million probing the murders, but refused to believe

they were linked.

Asked whether a harsher sentence for the shop raid would have stopped the

killings, Asst Chief Constable Steve Worron said: “No one will ever know —

apart from James Fairweather.”