Colwyn Bay school stabbing: Attempted murder boy sentenced

The attacker used this knife to stab a fellow pupil

A 16-year-old boy who tried to kill a fellow school pupil in a random attack has been locked up.

He stabbed his victim in the shoulder in a corridor at Eirias High School in Colwyn Bay, Conwy county, in February.

The defendant, 15 at the time, was found guilty of attempted murder by a jury after a trial.

His extended 12-year sentence is eight years' detention with four years on licence when he can be re-called if there are any further concerns.

During the four-day trial at Mold Crown Court, the jury was told the attack happened after the teenager had been kicked out of a lesson.

He told another pupil he wanted to stab the teacher and showed the girl an open bottle of whisky and a penknife.

Teachers were told and confiscated the whisky after searching his bag, but did not find the knife in his pocket.

Myles Wilson, prosecuting, said the boy then walked behind his victim in a corridor and attempted to stab him in the neck, but missed and hit him in the shoulder.

"The defendant told the police that he meant to kill. He didn't have any grievance against him. He didn't know him," he added.

Police were called to Eirias High School in Colwyn Bay on 11 February

The court heard the defendant told police "he had been thinking about killing someone for some time" and "liked the idea of killing someone".

The boy - who cannot be named due to legal restrictions - said he "just wanted to cause him some harm, to injure him" and wanted to "let out my frustration".

He had admitted wounding his victim, but denied he was trying to kill him.

"I feel regret every single day. I think about him, his family - what they must have felt," he told the jury.

Judge Rhys Rowlands called it a "deeply worrying case" and said in the weeks before the attack, the boy had come into possession of a knife and had been experimenting by harming farm animals.

He said he had beaten a lamb and drowned it and stabbed a cow to the neck with a kitchen knife.

He said the boy, whose mother died in front of him when he was 10, posed "a significant risk of serious harm" to the public.

He added: "Regrettably I have come to the conclusion that you are a dangerous offender.

"I am driven to the view that you remain a very troubled young man who has harboured thoughts of harming, indeed of killing someone, thoughts you acted upon that morning in February of last year."

He praised the attitude of the victim who, in a statement read in court, said he hoped his attacker "receives the support and help that he needs".