A teenage
British schoolboy was jailed for at least 20 years on Monday after pleading
guilty to stabbing to death a teacher he had developed a hatred of in front of
horrified pupils during a lesson at a college in northern England.
According
to Reuters, William Cornick, then aged 15, murdered Ann Maguire, 61, in April
in what was believed to be the first killing of a British teacher by a student
in almost 20 years, sending shockwaves around the country where violent school
incidents are rare.
“This
tragic case has shocked the nation,” said Peter Mann, head of the complex
casework unit at the regional prosecution office. He said the teenager had
shown no remorse at all for what he had done.
“While
his deep-seated hatred for Ann appears incomprehensible, we are clear that he
calmly and methodically planned this cold-blooded attack on her.”
During a lesson, he repeatedly stabbed her in front
of about 30 traumatised pupils with a kitchen knife.
After the
attack, he sat back down next to his classmate and said out loud “good times”.
The court
was told he was the son of “responsible and caring parents”, but friends felt
his personality had become disturbed as he got older.
After the
murder he told one psychiatrist: “It's kill or be killed. I did not have a
choice. It was kill her or suicide”.
Asked
about the impact on Maguire's family, he said: “I know the victim's family will
be upset but I don't care. In my eyes, everything I've done is fine and dandy.”
Cornick
was told he would spend a minimum of 20 years behind bars after he pleaded
guilty to murder.
“There
can be no doubt that the defendant is highly dangerous,” said the judge Peter
Coulson.
Maguire,
a mother of two, taught Spanish and religious education, and had worked at the
school for nearly 40 years. She had been due to retire in the summer.
Although
there has been growing concern about knife attacks involving teenagers in
Britain, violence inside schools is uncommon.
“Thankfully
this is an isolated occurrence which should not be seen as an indicator of any
serious violent crime issues within Corpus Christi college or any other schools
in Leeds,” local commander Superintendent Paul Money told reporters.
Maguire
was believed to be the first school teacher to be killed by a student since
Philip Lawrence, a London headmaster, was stabbed at the gates of his senior
school in 1995.
The
worst-ever attack on a school in Britain was at the Dunblane Primary School in
Scotland in March 1996 when Thomas Hamilton, 43, entered the school armed with
four handguns, killing 16 children and one adult before committing suicide.
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