Dr John Rumbold, Lecturer at NLS https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/law/john-rumbold
A recent trial looked at a shocking incident at a private school in Devon where a schoolboy attacked two fellow pupils and a master with a hammer. It was alleged that he had performed these actions whilst sleepwalking. He was found guilty on Jun 21st of three counts attempted murder. I will examine some of the reported details and whether they fit with a sleepwalking episode or not.
Parasomnias
Sleepwalking and related conditions (called parasomnias) arise out of sleep, although it is important to note that the person is not asleep during these episodes. It must be emphasized that most sleepwalkers are not dangerous and do not exhibit complex behaviour. It is true that the sleepwalker if confronted may have a violent reaction, which is the reason for advising people not to abruptly waken a sleepwalker. However, violent behaviour is recognized to occur.
The infamous case of Kenneth Parks is very different. Here, he drove across Toronto to the house of his in-laws and attacked them with a knife. He killed his mother-in-law and seriously injured his father-in-law. The forensic sleepwalking expert witness community is divided on whether or not this was truly sleepwalking, or the related sleep-related dissociative disorder (SRDD). This was due to the unusual complexity of his actions.
SRDD would result in more complex behaviour. It would provide a defence to a charge of murder, but here the verdict should be not guilty for reason of insanity or not criminally responsible due to mental disorder (NCR-MD) or some equivalent. It would not be desirable that the perpetrator have a plain acquittal, due to the potential danger to the public.
One of the doyens of forensic sleep medicine, Mark Mahowald, once said:
‘[You] can prove someone is a sleepwalker… But that is only Part 1 of a two-part question. The second question is whether he was sleepwalking on the night of the murder. Only God can answer that.’
This is an important observation. All any expert witness can say is whether or not the episode is consistent with sleepwalking (or a similar parasomnia) or not. The starting position of all expert witness is skepticism. In about 80-90% of enquiries received by forensic sleep experts, there is no possibility of a parasomnic episode.
There are some qualifiers in relation to that. This should not be the first time the person has been sleepwalking. We need accounts from other persons to confirm that the perpetrator has sleepwalked in the past. The actions should be out of character. There should be no motive for the actions, so any history of hostility is problematic. The person may be in disbelief about their actions, but they should not specifically deny them. They should not cover up their actions.
The Parks case is a good example of all of these. He had a very good relationship with his in-laws. After he had attacked them, he handed himself into the police, stating:
“I just killed two people; I've just killed my mother- and father-in-law. I stabbed and beat them to death. It's all my fault.”
The Blundell’s Case
Looking at the specifics of the Blundell’s case, what can we say about the episode? The reporting of the trial is incomplete, which is an issue in terms of any commentary. What do we know from the trial? The facts of the episode are crucial in determining if sleepwalking is a possible explanation. It is also important that the jury were asked to consider the special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
The pupil had a history of sleepwalking. This is crucial for the defence of sleepwalking to be viable. The schoolboy's victims were asleep when they were attacked. This means that they did not do anything to precipitate the attack, and the perpetrator must have approached them rather than the other way round.
It is known that he had an obsession with zombies and was listening to music around the time of the episode. So, it is possible that he was having a violent dream and/or was aroused suddenly from sleep by a sudden loud noise. This could produce a confusional arousal and in such a state, he could have attacked his fellow pupils. A crucial factor here is exactly how long the attack lasted and how many blows were landed. He then went on to attach a schoolmaster who had come to investigate, who was hit six times. There are no details on what made the attack stop and whether there seemed to be any awakening.
Crucially, the weapon used was apparently under his pillow. If this was the case, then the weapon could easily have been retrieved during a confusional arousal or a sleepwalking episode. This is what may have happened in the US case of Ricksgers, who was convicted of the murder of his wife. He had a gun under his pillow, and at least one sleep expert believed he shot her during a confusional arousal. We would need to consider why the pupil had a hammer under his pillow. In this case, this was due to his obsession with the zombie apocalypse.
Mark Pressman, a very experienced forensic sleep expert, stated that reactive violence triggered by proximity and physical contact is entirely typical of sleepwalking. That explains the attack on the schoolmaster, but not the attack on his fellow pupils.
If on the other hand, as some reports had claimed, the weapon was in a drawer, that would be very different. This complex behaviour would not be consistent with sleepwalking. It could be compatible with sleep-related dissociative disorder. There was some history of animosity towards one of the pupils, although it would be pretty common in a boarding school from personal experience. It has been reported that the pupil had made internet searches about serial killers and hammer murders.
The pupil made a “no comment” interview. This is not helpful to the case - the perpetrator should not deny what has happened, and so they would have no reason to make a “no comment” interview. It was therefore poor legal advice in the circumstances.
Ultimately, the jury convicted him. What does this mean? A conviction entails that the jury was not persuaded that sleepwalking (or some other sleep-related state) was proven on the balance of probabilities. A clear lesson from this case is that nobody should sleep with any weapons close at hand, otherwise catastrophic consequences may occur.
Further Reading
CARTWRIGHT, R. (2004) Sleepwalking Violence: A Sleep Disorder, a Legal Dilemma, and a Psychological Challenge. American Journal of Psychiatry, 161(7), pp. 1149-58: An account of the Parks and Falater cases.
MORRISON, I., RUMBOLD, J.M.M. and RIHA, R.L. (2014) Medicolegal aspects of complex behaviours arising from the sleep period: A review and guide for the practising sleep physician. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 18(3), p249-60: A review of the factors for and against a sleepwalking episode.
NOFZINGER, E.A. and WETTSTEIN, R.M. (1995) Homicidal behavior and sleep apnea: a case report and medicolegal discussion. Sleep, 18(9), pp. 765-82
PRESSMAN, M. (2007) ‘Disorders of arousal from sleep and violent behavior: the role of physical contact and proximity'. Sleep, 30, pp. 1039-47: The factors that precipitate violent behaviour.
RUMBOLD, J., (2018) Automatism as a Defence. Routledge: My research on the sleepwalking defence and other conditions that can support a defence of automatism.
Further Viewing
Side Effects (Open Road Films, 2013)
“Spirits in the Night”, Murdoch Mysteries (Episode 18, Series 17)
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