The devoted mother whose woman hating, autistic son blamed her love for his unhappiness: Misogynist teen asked AI for ways to murder teaching assistant – then bludgeoned her to death with a hammer

Angela Shellis’ Facebook page painted a picture of a loving, hands-on mother whose world revolved around her children.

There were loving tributes to ‘My Boys’, dotted photos symbolizing proud milestones and videos of the everyday family moments that meant the most to him.

But at the center of those smiling family posts were loving images of the son who would go on to kill him.

Violence-obsessed 18-year-old Tristan Roberts is deeply entrenched in a toxic online world of hate and fantasy.

Diagnosed with autism and ADHD, the man spent hours each day engaging in disturbing misogynistic material and blamed his devoted mother for his unhappiness.

While recording the attack on a dictaphone, he beat teaching assistant Angela, 45, with a sledgehammer, concluding: ‘I’ve just killed her… it’s over’.

The troubled Roberts even turned to artificial intelligence to map out his terrifying plot last October, citing a desire for ‘revenge, justice and vengeance’.

But in reality, family members said he was loved only by a ‘fiercely supportive’ mother who ‘never gave up’.

Teacher assistant Angela posted a series of photos of her son, who has autism and ADHD, on Facebook, with the caption: ‘Sneaky photo with my son’.

Angela, 45, was originally a qualified teacher but took on the low-paid role of teaching assistant so she could spend more time with her two sons at home in North Wales.

Family members said Angela only loved her violence-obsessed son and was a ‘fiercely supportive’ mother who ‘never gave up’ before beating her son with a hammer.

Roberts, 18, who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD, first attacked his mother at the house they shared in Prestatyn at the end of October 23 last year. He later claimed that he killed her and took her for medical treatment when he actually lured her to a nature reserve.

Angela’s social media profile is proof of this; It uncovers a trove of photos of Roberts and her eldest son, Ethan, 20.

A loving photo from November 2024 is captioned: ‘My sons’.

Another shows a ‘sneaky photo with my son’; Angela takes a photo of an unsuspecting Roberts in the passenger seat of her car. Jack Johnson’s song ‘Better Together’ was chosen to accompany the picture.

There are photos of their sons playing chess together, enjoying trips to Blackpool and Paris, and entertaining together at their £182,000 semi-detached home in Prestatyn, North Wales.

In one of the photos, Roberts and Ethan are described as “young bingo enthusiasts.” In another, Angela said: ‘Home is where my boys are.’

Over a photo celebrating a full house, she wrote: ‘This makes me happy.’ Another is a seemingly casual video of Roberts walking the family dog, Blade.

Angela, who returned to North Wales from Dunstable, Bedfordshire after divorcing husband Mark Roberts in 2021, has built her entire life around her sons.

Although a qualified teacher, she had taken a position as a low-paid teacher’s assistant at Rhyl High School so she could spend more time with her children.

In one particularly poignant post, she wrote: ‘I will never understand how some parents live day after day knowing they have a child they rarely worry about and go about their lives without a care in the world.’

But while Angela was sharing loving tributes and happy family photos, her troubled young son was plotting to kill her.

Fueled by outrage, much of which spread on online platform Discord, Roberts turned to AI for advice on which weapon he should use as an ‘inexperienced’ killer.

Angela, who is training to be a reflexologist, was first attacked at the home they shared in Coniston Drive, Prestatyn, late October 23 last year.

Troubled Roberts spent hours tracking down misogynistic content online and even turned to artificial intelligence to map out her terrifying plot last October, citing a desire for ‘revenge, justice and vengeance’.

This is when Roberts took his mother to a secluded nature reserve before beating her with a stick.

Roberts, seen here during a police interrogation, did not answer any questions asked of him

This is the hammer found at Roberts’ home, which he had previously purchased from Amazon for £20.

A pair of black gloves at the scene of the murder, next to a footpath near a nature reserve in Prestatyn

Roberts also shared messages about hating women on the social media platform Discord.

In another chat on Discord, he shared creepy messages saying ‘now is the time’

Roberts then tricked his injured and terrified mother into leaving the house by claiming he was taking her to get medical attention.

Instead the teenager took him into the darkness of the Coed y Morfa nature reserve and bludgeoned him to death with a hammer bought for £20 on Amazon.

Police found a trail of blood stretching more than 100 meters the next morning, leading to Angela’s body hidden in bushes 20 feet from the nearest footpath.

Roberts, who has a morbid fascination with serial killers, recorded the prolonged attack on a Dictaphone and recorded the words: ‘Oh my God, that was so scary, it felt so crazy.’

An earlier message obtained by police read: ‘I’m Tristan Roberts. ‘I’m going to kill my mother with a sledgehammer tonight.’

Mold Crown Court, where Roberts was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 22-and-a-half years, heard how his behavior deteriorated after moving to North Wales.

Prosecutors said Angela repeatedly tried to get her son help, but with little success.

Ethan, a university student, told the court: ‘Not a day goes by that I don’t question why. Why would he do this to her?

‘All my mother did was love Tristan, she cared for him and endured more than anyone else should, but she was my mother; He would do anything for us, anything for him.

‘She’s the only one who did anything for Tristan his entire life, and she’s the one who took him from all of us.’

His sister Sarah Gunther told Roberts in court: ‘As a close family we have all tried so hard to get you the help you need, none of us have ever given up on you, especially Angela.

‘We all showed you love, cared about you, and tried to include you in everything we did.’

He later added: ‘She had many amazing qualities, but one of the most important was her dedication to her children.

‘She was a wonderful and extremely supportive mother; He was the type who never gave up, no matter how difficult life was.

‘He fought tirelessly for them and his love for them was unbreakable; He was a source of strength that carried him and his sons through every challenge.’

Medical experts concluded that Roberts did not suffer from significant mental impairment at the time of the murder.

Angela often shared on Facebook how much she adored spending time with her son, who killed himself because she claimed his love was the root of his unhappiness.

Angela said spending ‘home-filled’ time with her family made her happy

Angela’s social media profile is proof of her devotion to her children

In the weeks before the murder, Roberts wrote on Discord about his ‘hatred of women’ and that he felt ‘abandoned, betrayed and bullied’.

He said he killed her for ‘revenge, justice, revenge’.

Sentencing, Judge Rhys Rowlands said: ‘In my view you were both looking forward to making your mother suffer and ultimately killing her.

‘As you recorded what you were doing on the dictaphone for several hours, you enjoyed what you were doing, you took control over your mother in her final hours, you undoubtedly enjoyed what you were doing as you assaulted her.’