Alexander Lewis-Ranwell has been cleared of murdering three elderly men he killed in brutal attacks. Despite concerns about his erratic behaviour, Lewis-Ranwell, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was twice detained and released by police in the 48 hours before he bludgeoned his victims. Could more have been done to stop him?
Shortly after 05:00 GMT on 11 February, Lewis-Ranwell entered the lobby of the Rougemont Hotel in Exeter and demanded breakfast.
When he was told it would not be ready for another hour, he became agitated and launched a glass bowl at night manager Stasys Belevicius's head. "He was saying, 'I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill the people in this hotel'," Mr Belevicius said.
Fearful for the safety of those in the hotel, he shouted at the night porter to run away and save herself. "I was shouting, I was screaming," he said.
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"He hit me with something, something very sharp in my head. My head started to bleed. Then he was ready to hit me again so I punched him in the neck one time, I punched him in the neck a second time."
By now armed with a large butcher's knife he had taken from the restaurant's kitchen, Lewis-Ranwell started chasing Mr Belevicius around the hotel. "I ran to the basement and he was running right behind me. He was trying to catch me with the knife."
Image caption Stasys Belevicius was working a night shift at an Exeter hotel when he was attacked
Mr Belevicius managed to close a door between him and his attacker. "I said to myself, now is the moment I need to run."
As police arrived, Lewis-Ranwell appeared with a metal lamp in his hand. Refusing to drop it, he was Tasered, arrested and sectioned at Exeter police station.
What the arresting officers did not realise was that the man they had in custody had killed three people in the past 17 hours. And just a few hours before he bludgeoned his first victim to death, he had been in a similar police cell - and released.