The father of a British-born mass murderer who was raised in West Sussex did not believe his son could “hurt a flea”.

Student Elliot Rodger, 22, murdered six people and injured 13 in a shooting and stabbing spree in Isla Vista, California, on May 23.

After exchanging shots with police he killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

His father, the British director Peter Rodger, 49, who worked on the film The Hunger Games, described the ‘nightmare’ of his life now.

He said: “Every night I go to sleep, I wake up and I think of those young men and young women that have died, and were injured and were terrorised. And my son did that.”

He told US broadcaster Barbara Walters: “When you go to sleep nor- mally, you have a nightmare and you wake up and everything’s OK.

“Now I go to sleep and I might have a nice dream and then I wake up and slowly the truth of what happened dawns on me, and that is that my son was a mass murderer.”

His son, dubbed the Virgin Killer, was born in London in 1991 and lived in West Sussex until age five, spending a year at Dorset House preparatory school in Pulborough.

Before the killings he stated: “The memories I have of this period are memories of happiness and bliss.” His family then emigrated to North America.

His father added: “There is no way I thought this boy could even hurt a flea. This is the most unbelievable thing. We didn’t see this coming.”

“This is the horror story, when you have somebody who on the outside is one thing and on the inside is completely different and you don’t see it.”