Tristan Roberts, 18, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years and six months for the murder of his mother, Angela Shellis, in a hammer attack that was carefully planned and recorded. The 45-year-old teaching assistant was killed at her home in Prestatyn, north Wales, and in a nearby nature reserve between 23 and 24 October 2025.
Roberts had researched methods of killing and how to avoid being caught before buying potential weapons, including knives, hammers and an axe. He attacked Shellis at home, then persuaded her to leave, taking a hammer from a rucksack in a nature reserve and striking her head multiple times. He recorded the attacks on a dictaphone.
In the weeks before the murder, Roberts expressed misogynistic views and a fascination with the film American Psycho, posting on Discord, including a still with the message "i got urges" and writings such as "i do hate girls" and "she is gonna just vanish off the earth". He also asked an AI chatbot whether a hammer or knife was better for a murder, and left a voice note saying he was going to murder his mother with a sledgehammer.
Police found Shellis's body in undergrowth on the morning of 24 October, with a 100-metre blood trail, gloves, a balaclava and her crutch, which she needed for a knee injury. Doorbell footage showed Roberts and his mother leaving the home at 3.19am, and police believe he had kept her prisoner in her room for about four hours, during which she suffered bruising and strangulation injuries. He later returned to the scene, apparently planning to clean it with bleach.
Roberts, who turned 18 ten days before the attack, answered "no comment" to police questions after being arrested. Judge Rhys Rowlands said he "revelled in the control" he exerted over his mother and that it was "a truly awful way for someone to die". Shellis's son Ethan said: "All my mum ever did was love Tristan." Her sister Sarah Gunther described her as a "fantastic and fiercely supportive mum". Andrew Slight of the Crown Prosecution Service said Roberts showed "no concern or remorse".
