A Malaysian teenager was sentenced to life imprisonment in England for attacking his sleeping schoolmates with a hammer.

A Malaysian teenager has been sentenced to life imprisonment in the UK after violently attacking his schoolmates and teacher at a boarding school in Devon.

The identity of 17-year-old Thomas Wei Huang was previously protected by a gag order, but a British judge recently lifted that order and made his identity public, Malaysia’s New Straits Times reported on November 2.

According to Britain’s Sky News, the incident occurred in June 2023 when Huang, then 16, attacked two sleeping male students at Blundell’s School in Tiverton.

Using a hammer, he caused serious injuries, including skull fractures, rib damage and internal bleeding. One of the victims also suffered a puncture wound in his lung.

When the teacher, Mr. Henry Roffe-Silvester, tried to stop him, Huang hit him in the head several times, forcing him to retreat into the corridor. Another student, who was alarmed by the sounds of the attack, informed the police.

Although Huang admitted to carrying out the attacks, he claimed that he was sleepwalking. But the court heard he harbored disturbing fantasies about harming children and had an unusual passion for hammers.

During the investigation, Huang said he kept the hammers next to his bed in case of a “zombie apocalypse.”

Although Huang pleaded not guilty to attempted murder on grounds of insanity, Exeter Crown Court heard that he had pre-planned the attack, accepting the possible fatal consequences.

At Huang’s sentencing hearing in October, Judge Johannah Cutts said the teenager posed a “high level of danger” to the public, pointing out that there was a significant risk he could commit similar crimes in the future. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years.

The sentence came days after another Malaysian student, 22-year-old Teo Jia Xin, was convicted in Britain of murdering her newborn child.

During the trial it was revealed that Teo had traveled from Malaysia to attend Coventry University while pregnant in early 2024.

He confessed his crime after the baby’s body was found in a cereal box hidden in a suitcase. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, Teo carried the child to full term and delivered the newborn on March 4 before placing him in a sealed plastic bag.

Prosecutors revealed that Teo knew the baby was still alive when he put it in the box, causing the child’s death.