2014 Colchester murders

Essex Police questioned 70 locals with a history of knife crime, including Fairweather, who gave an alibi and was not questioned further.[2]

As of January 2015, more than 900 potential witnesses had been interviewed.[8] Nine people from various towns in East Anglia were arrested and bailed by officers investigating Attfield's murder.[7] Det Supt Hawkings, Head of Major Crimes for Essex Police called the attack "brazen" for occurring in a public space where passersby were likely.[9] Police said that despite no firm evidence, one line of enquiry in the murder of Almanea was a possible hate crime.[9][10][11] During the trial, by which time it was known that Almanea and Attfield were killed by the same person, it was announced that both had been selected randomly.[2] Premature assumptions that it was a hate crime led the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to threaten revenge attacks, using the Twitter hashtag #Colchester.[12]

The fact that Almanea and Attfield were unconnected people, and had been killed at different times of the day, led to a line of investigation that there could have been two separate killers.[2] Fewer people went out in Colchester in public, and overgrowth was cleared to remove hiding places.[2]

Fairweather did not attempt another murder for over a year because the public were wary of the danger: on 27 May 2015 he was spotted loitering early in the morning by a concerned dogwalker.[2] The police were called and interviewed Fairweather, who was wearing rubber-gripped gloves and bearing a knife. He was arrested.[2] In August 2015, he told a psychiatrist some of the "most anti-social and violent thoughts" the professional had heard, saying that voices were telling him to burn babies and maim prostitutes.[2] Searches of Fairweather's possessions included documentaries about serial killers such as the Yorkshire Ripper, but prosecutor Paul Scothern clarified that not all people with such interests are intent on imitating the killers.[2]

At the Old Bailey the following January, his name not disclosed to the public for reasons of age, he denied two charges of murder and possessing an illegal weapon, but admitted to two charges of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.[3] Fairweather claimed to have psychosis, which was not found by a court psychiatrist.[5] However, all four psychiatrists who testified agreed that Fairweather had an autistic spectrum disorder.[13] The judge believed that Fairweather's autism could have played a part in his obsessive interest in serial killers, but to link the condition to the crimes would be an "unjustified slur" against autistic people.[6] Fairweather was found unanimously guilty by the jury on 22 April 2016, and was to be sentenced a week later, with Judge Robin Spencer, QC, saying that the minimum sentence would be 12 years.[5]

After the conviction, Attfield's mother Julie decried Fairweather as a "monster", condemning his cruelty to her son.[5]

On 29 April 2016, Fairweather was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 27 years.[4] Fairweather tried to appeal the sentence in September on the grounds of his age and mental functions, but this was rejected as it was deemed that the judge was aware of both.[14]