James Fairweather was fifteen years old living in the UK when he would murder two men in Colchester
According to court documents James Fairweather would stab to death 33-year-old James Attfield in March 2015. Three months later Fairweather would murder Nahid Almanea, 31.
Police were able to track down and arrest James Fairweather as he was making plans for yet another murder
At trial James Fairweather lawyers attempted to put forth a defense that their young client was hearing auditory delusions which led him to kill. However the jury felt different and would convict the teen killer of the two murders
James Fairweather would be sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for twenty seven years
James Fairweather Case
A teenager who stabbed two strangers to death in Essex in 2014 has lost his appeal against a minimum term of 27 years’ detention.
James Fairweather was 15 when he carried out random attacks on James Attfield and Nahid Almanea in Colchester. Despite claiming to have been possessed by the devil, he was found guilty of the murders and in April was sentenced at the Old Bailey by Mr Justice Spencer, who said the killings were “brutal and sadistic”.
Lawyers for Fairweather argued that the trial judge had failed to give sufficient weight to his age at the time of the murders or the abnormality of his mental function, but the appeal judges said Spencer had this well in mind and could not be faulted.
Appeal court judge Lord Justice Treacy said on Wednesday: “We are not persuaded it was manifestly excessive in an extremely serious case in which an experienced trial judge took much care over the process of sentencing.
The judges said: “In the circumstances we are not persuaded that the judge fell into error in fixing the minimum term which he did.”
Inspired by notorious serial killers, Fairweather stabbed 33-year-old Attfield 102 times as he lay drunk and helpless in a park in Colchester in March 2014.
Three months later, he attacked Essex University student Almanea. The 31-year-old was attacked with a bayonet and stabbed in both eyes as she walked alone along the Salary Brook nature trail in daylight.
Police believed Fairweather was searching for a third victim when he was apprehended in May 2015. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing gloves and armed with a lock knife.
He had researched serial killers including Ian Huntley, Myra Hindley and the “Yorkshire Ripper”, Peter Sutcliffe, of whom he had a picture on his phone.
Fairweather also had a collection of horror films including Wrong Turn: The Carnage Collection, a DVD about Sutcliffe and a book called The World’s Worst Crimes.
He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, claiming he heard voices that compelled him to kill, but was convicted of murder after an expert told his trial that his description of the hallucinations sounded like something copied from a horror film.
Teenager loses appeal over 27-year sentence for Essex knife murders | UK news | The Guardian
James Fairweather News
A teenager who idolised the Yorkshire Ripper has been convicted of murdering two strangers in frenzied attacks.
James Fairweather, who was 15 at the time, stabbed James Attfield, 33, 102 times in a park in Colchester, Essex, in March 2014.
Three months later he knifed Saudi student Nahid Almanea, 31, as she walked along a nature trail in the town.
He was hunting a third victim when he was caught by police.
The 17-year-old, who can now be named after a reporting ban was lifted, admitted manslaughter, claiming he believed he was possessed by the devil and heard voices that compelled him to kill.
He denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility but was convicted by a jury at Guildford Crown Court.
The teenager was “turned on” by serial killers and researched Ian Huntley, Myra Hindley and Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, of whom he had a picture on his phone.
His favourite serial killer was American Ted Bundy, who sexually assaulted, murdered and decapitated his victims.
He wanted to emulate the serial killers he idolised and fantasised about killing his headteacher and parents, the court heard.
After he killed, he obsessively looked up press coverage of the murders on the internet.
Fairweather, who has been diagnosed with autism, admitted the killings.
In police interviews he told detectives he heard voices, adding: “They said we need another sacrifice and I was going to get my third victim but there was no one about.”
His defence lawyers argued that he had full-blown psychosis and did not fully understand what he was doing.
But this was dismissed by prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC, who said the youth “understood his conduct at the time” and “was able to form a reasonable judgment”.
The court heard that Fairweather lied about hearing voices and having hallucinations to try to get off the murder charges.
Psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph said the teenager’s description of hallucinations were “cliched” and “unconvincing”.
He added: “It seems more like something you might see in a horror film.”
Mr Justice Robin Spencer QC warned the teenager he faced a lengthy prison sentence, adding that the starting point for two murders for someone under 18 is 12 years.
He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday April 29.
