The Kesgrave shooting highlights the danger of guns and “glorification” of violence in online computer games, Judge Martyn Levett said.

An expert had stated that playing first person shooter games using a screen and headphones was a significant factor in Jacob Talbot-Lummis having violent fantasies.

East Anglian Daily Times: Jacob Talbot-Lummis, who shot his friend in KesgraveJacob Talbot-Lummis, who shot his friend in Kesgrave (Image: Suffolk police)

He said Talbot-Lummis’s plan to take the victim to a forest and fire shots was similar to the plot of a game called “Hitman”.

Judge Levett said: “I am not immune from hearing the raised voices of frustration from those who perceive the clear and certain link between violence and the role guns currently play in computer-based video games, and the frequent glorification of shooting a character on screen.

“With the current trending stories and announcements about the Metaverse, the cloud-based internet medium of virtual reality, where the young get captivated and absorbed in this new virtual world which allows anyone to experience the realities of shooting another person, it appears that few are heeding the warning that guns are dangerous, guns must be stored properly, and guns are not to be used for conflict resolution,” said the judge.

“Gun violence affects whole communities and it is time to focus on the impact of those traumatised by gun violence,” he added.

Diana Ellis QC, for Talbot-Lummis, said he had become desensitised by being introduced to violent video games, suitable for over 18s, since the age of nine and had then gone on to violent reality games during which he was the “first shooter.”

“His life outside school seems to have involved watching these very violent games.”