Girl who stabbed teachers fascinated by weapons and war, report says

A teenage girl who stabbed two teachers and a pupil last year had previously been found with a knife, BB gun and war memorabilia in her school bag, a review has found.

The girl, who cannot be named due to her age, was 13 at the time of the attack at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Carmarthenshire on 24 April 2024.

Earlier this year, she was found guilty of attempted murder and was sentenced to 15 years in detention.

A multi-agency review found the girl would have benefited from "targeted help" if "information had been fully shared and assessed".

A joint statement on behalf of Carmarthenshire council, Dyfed-Powys Police, Hywel Dda health board and the school's headteacher said they would work on an action plan.

The independent review by Gladys Rhodes White found the girl was seen as "quirky" and had "unusual interests" in war memorabilia and Hitler.

It added she had a fascination with weapons and would pretend to speak German and Russian.

A BB gun [airgun] was found in her bag at a school she attended before she joined Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.

In May 2023, the girl threatened to use a knife on another pupil, and a knife was found in her bag during a search in September 2023.

These incidents led to her father agreeing to daily bag checks and the review found counselling support was offered, but refused.

A referral to the Prevent anti-terrorism programme was considered but not pursued.

The report found another referral was made for an Early Help assessment but her father declined it.

Teachers Fiona Elias (left), Liz Hopkin (right) and a pupil were injured in the stabbing at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman last April

During the trial at Swansea Crown Court, the jury heard the girl carried a knife to school every day as an "instinct thing" because she was bullied.

On 24 April 2024 the teenager used her father's multi-tool knife and had told other pupils she would stab Ms Elias.

She repeatedly stabbed her saying "I'm going to kill you" before Ms Hopkin was also stabbed as she intervened.

The girl then ran at a 14-year-old pupil with the knife and stabbed her before she was restrained by teacher Darrel Campbell.

She told police it was "one way to be a celebrity" after she was arrested.

Judge Paul Thomas KC said the girl had not shown remorse and had attacked the three for attention.

The teenager attacked the three using her father's multi-tool knife

The review suggested the girl had mental health challenges and had a troubled childhood with "fractured parental relationships" and exposure to domestic abuse.

The school had described her as showing distinctive behaviours that made her stand out from peers developmentally.

The review found the school had raised concerns during a school mental health consultation that a knife had been found in her school bag which led to police involvement.

The teachers told the independent review bullying was an ongoing issue for the teenager, including on the school bus.

Ms Rhodes White said it was likely she was affected by several adverse childhood experiences.

While the teenager had been referred to mental health services, the review added it was difficult to know whether her emotional health may have been impacted by neurodiversity, as an assessment or specific diagnosis for neurodiversity was not carried out.

The teenager's father told the review he felt services had let his daughter and the family down, but the author suggested a "pattern" in agency records of support offers being "declined or not followed up".

"It was clear on further examination that she did not meet the threshold for Prevent intervention, but she clearly met a threshold for further concerns to be explored, and for a risk assessment to be undertaken," Ms Rhodes White told BBC Wales after the report's publication.

"Unfortunately when she was referred for an early help assessment, the dad didn't pursue that or cooperate, she didn't, and the children's services had no statutory powers at that stage to enforce that."

Ms Rhodes White's report concluded the girl had experienced "several challenges which agencies had some awareness of at different times and in different ways".

"Each agency had their own pieces of the jigsaw. In collating all the pieces of the jigsaw, there is a much clearer picture of the extent of concerns around [her] state of mind and her associated behaviours."

She later added: "I feel that there were opportunities where information sharing could have been strengthened... hindsight is a wonderful thing."

But her report said "no information held by agencies identified a clear ability to foresee the shocking and unexpected events which occurred in April 2024".

"Having been involved in lots of serious cases, I did have a level of concern about some of the missed opportunities, but unfortunately it is not uncommon," she added, adding "it could not have been predicted that on the day this was going to happen".

Pupils at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman went into lockdown following the stabbings during morning break

Ms Rhodes White made a total of 11 recommendations which included that "consideration should be given at a local and national level to secure sufficient resources and capacity for agencies across all sectors, to be able to respond to ongoing increasing levels of complexity and needs of children and young people, particularly in schools".

She added the "potential for facilitating better inter-agency sharing of comprehensive, relevant and chronological information" should be explored.

"When children are subject to delays for assessments, diagnosis or treatment, due to long waiting lists, agencies need to consider how such children are monitored and helped during that time," she added.

Ms Rhodes White also said agencies should consider prioritising training.

In a joint statement, Carmarthenshire council, the headteacher of Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, Dyfed-Powys Police and Hywel Dda health board said they "acknowledge the challenging and difficult circumstance faced by the victims and the whole community" after the incident.

"We have received the independent report in respect of the Multi-Agency Professional Forum (MAPF), and will work with all partners to develop an action plan to address its recommendations.

"While it is not usual to publish reviews of this type, or for such a review to be undertaken independently, it was agreed for the Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Children's Board to publish the report on behalf of the agencies involved in the MAPF to ensure all possible efforts have been made to learn from these events and to do so in a transparent and open way."