A 16-year-old boy who stabbed a teacher in the head at his school after asking her to check his homework has been sentenced to four and a half years in youth detention.
The boy, who was 15 at the time, stabbed his teacher, Vicky Williams, in the head at Milford Haven Comprehensive School in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
The defendant was found guilty of wounding with intent after being acquitted by a jury of attempted murder.
Passing sentence, Judge Paul Thomas KC said it was ‘pure luck’ Mrs Williams had not been seriously injured or worse.
‘I don’t know why you attacked Mrs Williams with that knife, you never told anybody why you did it,’ the judge said.
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‘I think it may have been that in some way she had upset you, but I don’t know for certain why.
‘What I do know for certain is that you took a knife that day to school because you wanted to really hurt her with it.
‘You knew what you were going to do was very wrong, but you had planned it in advance.
‘You knew she would not be any physical match for you and when you stabbed her in the top of her head with the knife, you knew that at the very least that might cause her a great deal of harm.
‘It was pure luck that she did not have far worse injuries, maybe even fatal injuries.
‘You could have killed her, although the jury found that you didn’t mean to go that far.’
Prosecutors described the incident on February 5 as a ‘murderous attack’ during a hearing at Swansea Crown Court on July 7.
Christopher Rees KC told the court previously: ‘The prosecution say the defendant planned and launched a murderous attack.
‘He deliberately stabbed Vicki Williams in the head.’
The school said in a statement at the time: ‘Following the very distressing incident that took place in school last week, we want to take a moment to acknowledge how unsettling this has been for our whole community. Our priority now is to support pupils, staff and families as we move forward together.
‘We want to reassure you that Milford Haven School remains a safe and caring environment.
‘We are incredibly proud of how bravely, calmly and maturely pupils and staff responded and we will continue to work closely with the police, the local authority and our wider community to ensure everyone feels supported.’