A teenager in Wales has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his mother with a hammer. 18-year-old Tristan Roberts, who hated women and was interested in the black comedy-horror work "American Psycho," carefully planned the attack on his mother in advance.
Medianews.az reports, citing Lent.az, that his minimum prison term was set at 22 years and 6 months.
Tristan Roberts had carefully planned the crime in advance, researched murder methods and ways to avoid being caught, and then purchased potential weapons such as a knife, hammer, and axe.
On the night of October 23, 2025, the teenager attacked his mother, 45-year-old Angela Shellis, who was a teaching assistant at a high school, at their home in Prestatyn, North Wales. Near dawn, he persuaded her to leave the house and said he would take her for medical help. They went together towards a nature reserve. There, Roberts took a hammer out of his bag and struck his mother several times on the head area, killing her. He recorded what happened both at home and in the reserve on a voice recorder.
It was revealed that a few weeks before the murder, he shared an image of the blood-covered protagonist from the "American Psycho" movie online, writing "I felt the urge." In another post, he wrote, "This will be a complete American Psycho, haha."
In other posts, he wrote thoughts such as "I really hate girls... I don’t trust girls/women either" and "She will simply vanish from the face of the earth... the time has come."
During investigations, he asked an artificial intelligence chatbot, "Which weapon is better for murder — hammer or knife?" Although the chatbot initially refused to answer, he asked again, saying he was writing a book about serial killers, and received a response.
On the day of the murder, Roberts left a voice recording saying: "This is Tristan Roberts. Tonight I will be Alex and will kill my mother with a hammer." It is unclear why he used the alter ego named "Alex."
After killing his mother, he wrote, "Oh my God, this was terrible... This was a very crazy thing." On social media, he posted, "I just experienced the craziest day of my life."
The police were called to the nature reserve on the morning of October 24, where Shellis’s body was found among the bushes. Approximately 100 meters of blood traces leading to the corpse were discovered. Gloves, a balaclava, and crutches that the victim used due to a knee injury were also found at the scene.
"The Guardian" writes that Roberts turned 18 on October 13, just 10 days before the incident. Police believe this is significant because it allowed him to legally purchase some of the tools he used as weapons.
The teenager appeared calm when detained and asked, "Is the body you found my mother?" A psychiatric nurse deemed him fit for questioning, and over four days, he was interrogated nine times. He remained silent in response to all questions.
After the verdict was delivered at Mold Crown Court, the Crown Prosecution Service representative Andrew Slight said: "Tristan Roberts carefully planned this shocking crime. His mother’s last moments of life were undoubtedly horrific, but he showed neither distress nor remorse for his actions."