Britain’s youngest serial killer who murdered two strangers and plotted to slay 15 more loses appeal
James Fairweather was obsessed with serial killers including the Yorkshire Ripper
James Fairweather the killer who stabbed two strangers to death in Colchester has lost an appeal against his minimum jail term of 27 years.
Fairweather was Britain's youngest serial killer and had plotted to kill 15 more.
He was convicted of stabbing brain-damaged James Attfield 102 times before knifing to death Nahid Almanea three months later.
He was just 15 at the time.
Fairweather, now 17, was given two life sentences, which he claimed was excessive.
Judges at the Court of Appeal disagreed.
Lord Justice Treacy said: "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."
Fairweather was 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 convicted by a jury of both murders after a two-week trial.
related stories
James Attfield’s mum Julie Finch branded him a “monster” after the verdict was announced earlier this year.
Fairweather attacked complete stranger James, 33, who had been left brain-damaged from a car crash.
He told cops he had been looking for a "sacrifice” in his home town of Colchester, Essex.
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.”
Three months later Nahid, 31, was 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’.”
The jury was 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.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.