The killer behind the horrific elementary school killing spree would have seen the children he shot dead as ‘little more than trophies’, an expert psychologist has said.

A lone gunman – believed to be 20-year-old Adam Lanza - opened fire at around 9.30am this morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  It is understood at least 29 people have been killed – including 22 children - and is the worst spree shooting in American history. 

Professor Craig Jackson, head of psychology at Birmingham City University and an expert in spree killings, said the murderer would have seen killing the children as a way of enacting revenge on those he was angry with.

‘To him the children are just a lump of meat that happen to help him prove his point,’ he explained.

‘If this was a revenge spree then he would see the children as useful trophies because each death would injure those he wanted to hurt.