The two walked through a nature reserve, where he took a hammer from a rucksack and killed Shellis, a teaching assistant at a high school, by hitting her on the head multiple times. He recorded the attacks at home and at the nature reserve on a dictaphone.<\/p>\n
In the weeks before the killing, he had posted a still from the film American Psycho on Discord showing the blood-spattered protagonist and the message: \u201ci got urges.\u201d In another he said: \u201cits gonna be some american psycho sht haha\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/507.jpg\")
A message posted on Discord by Tristan Roberts before he killed Angela Shellis. Photograph: North Wales police<\/p>\n
In others, he wrote: \u201ci do hate girls \u2026 girls\/women i also dont trust them\u201d and \u201cshe is gonna just vanish off the earth \u2026 now its time\u201d.<\/p>\n
On the day of the murder, he left a voice note on the dictaphone: \u201cThis is Tristan Roberts. Tonight, I\u2019m going to be Alex and I\u2019m going to murder my mother with a sledgehammer.\u201d It is not clear why he used the alter ego \u201cAlex\u201d.<\/p>\n
After killing his mother, Roberts recorded himself saying: \u201cOh God that was terrifying \u2026 That felt so crazy.\u201d On Discord he said: \u201cI\u2019ve just had the craziest day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police were called to the nature reserve on the morning of 24 October when Shellis\u2019s body was found in undergrowth. A 100-metre blood trail led to it, and gloves and a balaclava were found at the scene, alongside the victim\u2019s crutch, which she needed for a knee injury.<\/p>\n
At first, detectives thought she may have been attacked by a stranger but doorbell footage showed the mother and son leaving their home at 3.19am. Police believe Roberts had kept his mother prisoner in her room for about four hours, and during attacks carried out there she suffered bruising to the face and strangulation injuries.<\/p>\n
Angela Shellis, 45, was killed on 24 October 2025. Photograph: North Wales police<\/p>\n
The footage showed Roberts returning to the house after the killing and then leaving again. Police believe he was planning to return to the scene with bleach to try to clean up the scene.<\/p>\n
Roberts turned 18 on 13 October, 10 days before the attack, which police believe is significant because it meant he could legally buy some of the tools he used as weapons.<\/p>\n
When the teenager was arrested, he seemed calm and asked: \u201cIs the body you found my mother?\u201d A mental health nurse deemed him fit for interview and he was questioned on nine occasions during four days. He answered \u201cno comment\u201d to all questions.<\/p>\n
Judge Rhys Rowlands told Roberts: \u201cYou appear to have revelled in the control you exerted over your own mother. It was on any view a truly awful way for someone to die.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was made all the more dreadful by the fact her attacker was her own son, someone who it is clear she both cared for and, indeed, worried about in the weeks leading up to her death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shellis\u2019 elder son, Ethan Roberts, said in a statement: \u201cAll my mum ever did was love Tristan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her sister, Sarah Gunther, said: \u201cShe was a fantastic and fiercely supportive mum, the kind who never gave up, no matter how hard life became. She fought tirelessly for them, and her love for them was unbreakable.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the sentencing at Mold crown court, Andrew Slight of the Crown Prosecution Service said: \u201cThe level of planning Tristan Roberts did ahead of committing this shocking crime was elaborate and calculated. His mother\u2019s final moments must have been terrifying, yet he showed no concern or remorse for his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 18-year-old man who expressed misogynistic views and had a fascination with the horror film American Psycho has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-494578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}