Girl sentenced to 15 years for ‘terrifying' Welsh school stabbing
LONDON - A girl who wounded two teachers and a pupil in a 'terrifying' Welsh school stabbing was sentenced to more than seven years in custody on April 28, as the UK confronts a string of knife attacks by children.
The 14-year-old schoolgirl attacked teacher Fiona Elias with a multi-tool knife at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in south Wales on April 24, 2024.
Security camera footage played at Swansea Crown Court showed how the girl then set upon teacher Liz Hopkin who had intervened to protect her colleague, before going on to stab another girl. All three victims survived.
The attacker, who cannot be named because of her age, was found guilty of attempted murder earlier this year and given a 15-year youth sentence on April 28, with at least half to be served in custody.
Witnesses said the girl shouted that she was going to kill Ms Elias as she lunged at her.
Ms Elias told the court the scars from her injuries were a constant reminder the girl 'tried to murder me' and urged her to turn her life around.
Ms Hopkin, who was stabbed in the neck and airlifted to hospital, told the girl: 'I'm glad that I was there with Fiona and could stop you from killing her.'
'I truly believe that I saved you both that day.'
Mr Michael Cray of the Crown Prosecution Service, which brings criminal cases in England and Wales, called the stabbing 'terrifying'.
Sheffield stabbing
Also on April 28, a 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to the killing of another teenager in a separate UK school stabbing.
The boy admitted the manslaughter of Mr Harvey Willgoose, also 15, but denied murder at a court hearing in the northern city of Sheffield.
Mr Willgoose died after he was stabbed at All Saints Catholic High School in the city on Feb 3.
A judge ordered that the teenager be held in youth detention until he stands trial on June 30.
'We are utterly heartbroken at the loss of our beautiful boy,' the family said following their son's death.
The attack is one of several fatal stabbings involving young victims, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called knife crime a 'national crisis'.
The government has announced a series of initiatives including bans on certain types of blade, and on Friday it said tech platforms would face tougher sanctions for harmful online knife-crime content.
Knife crime in England and Wales has been steadily rising since 2011, according to government data. AFP
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