Tewekesbury boy who stabbed maths teacher locked up for 14 months

Masked boy, 15, stabbed teacher in school corridor with six-inch knife after dialling 999 to tell them he was about to attack

A masked teenager who brought terror to a school after stabbing a teacher has been jailed for 14 months.

The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attacked Jamie Sansom with a six-inch knife at Tewkesbury Academy in Gloucestershire.

Before confronting the maths teacher, he told a friend to ‘wait until period one’ and dial 999 to inform police a member of staff had been stabbed.

Wearing a snood and a hooded top, he then knocked on the door of the classroom where Mr Sansom was teaching and said: ‘Come here.’

Maths teacher Jamie Samsom, pictured, was stabbed by a 15-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons at Tewkesbury Academy in Gloucestershire on July 10

Mr Sansom, pictured, suffered a puncture wound to the stomach and was released from hospital after treatment

Prosecutor Christine Hart said: ‘[The boy] said “I’m sorry” and moved towards him in a stabbing motion. Mr Sansom felt the knife and asked him, “What are you doing?”

The school was put into lockdown for four hours after the attack, with teachers barricading terrified pupils in classrooms by putting wardrobes across doors. Some children cowered in cupboards.

Desperate parents rushed to the school while armed police with trained dogs made their way through the building, although it later emerged the suspect had fled.

READ MORE: Armed police search school  after maths teacher stabbed

When the boy’s mother managed to contact him and asked him to give himself up, he told her: ‘Goodbye forever but remember I always loved you guys.’

He was arrested two hours after the stabbing by firearms officers in Stoke Orchard, six miles away.

Mr Sansom, 27,  suffered a puncture wound to the stomach and was taken to an office where an ambulance was called. He was treated at hospital but released later the same day.

The boy, who has never given a motive for the attack, admitted attempting to unlawfully and maliciously wound and possessing a bladed article.

Imposing a 14-month detention and training order yesterday, District Judge Lynne Matthews told him: ‘You were not acting impulsively. You took the face covering to school, you took the knife to school.

‘You told a friend what was going to happen and you told the emergency services. Nothing strikes me about it that was impulsive.’

Half the sentence will be served at a youth detention centre, with the rest at home where he will be monitored by a youth offending team, Bristol Magistrates Court was told.

Two nearby schools were also locked down during the attack just after 9am on July 10, amid initial concerns it was terror-related.

Emotional parents described how their children had been ‘really, really terrified’ and had been left traumatised by the experience.

Sarah Penny, who has a child at the school, said at the time: ‘They had to put a small cabinet across the door to keep them safe.

Tewkesbury Academy in Gloucestershire, pictured, was put into lockdown for four hours following the incident on July 10

‘One of my son’s friends sent a message to his dad saying they were in lockdown and to come and get him because he didn’t want to die.’

A text message sent from another pupil to a parent said: ‘We are stuck in a classroom. Mum I’m really scared. They had guns, they had armed police and dogs were out.’

Hundreds of parents gathered at the school took their children home when they were allowed out from 1.30pm.

Cardiff University graduate Mr Sansom, a maths teacher who was due to leave for another job at the end of the academic year, was described as ‘wonderful’ and ‘one of the best teachers’ at the 1,600-pupil mixed secondary, which was rated as ‘requires improvement’ at its last Ofsted inspection.

In a victim impact statement read in court, he said: ‘I never expected this to happen in a school, let alone to me. I thought I might have been in some sort of soap opera. I didn’t have time to react.’

He added he holds ‘no ill will towards [the student] for what happened’, adding: ‘I hope he gets the support he needs.’

James McKella, defending the teenager whose parents were in court, said he had poor mental health at the time and was experiencing suicidal thoughts.

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