Knife pupil stabbed teacher with was ‘unusually large’, trial told – live updates

A school first aider has told the third day of a trial of a teenage boy accused of trying to murder his teacher at a school in Pembrokeshire earlier this year that the knife in the incident was “unusually large”, and said she’d been left so upset about what she had seen that she couldn’t speak to emergency services after calling 999.

Laura Jones, first aider at Milford Haven School, has told the jury on Wednesday morning how the knife was more like a knife you’d find in a restaurant than a home.

Asked if she saw the knife, Mrs Jones said she saw it on the desk in the classroom after the incident and she described it as “unusually large for a knife at home… like a restaurant knife”.

Vicki Williams, a history teacher at Milford Haven School, suffered injuries to her head, hands and back in the incident in February after the teenager – who isn’t being named for legal reasons – brought the knife into her classroom.

The boy is accused of entering the empty classroom, locking the door behind him, taking the kitchen knife from his bag and deliberately lunging towards Mrs Williams with the knife.

The court has heard a “violent struggle” ensued in which Mrs Williams, who said she was forced back into her chair, eventually succeeded in taking the knife from the teen, although she had suffered a “penetrating” wound to her head as well as cuts and grazes to her hands and back in the incident on February 5.

The boy – now 16 – denies attempted murder, inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, and unlawful wounding and is on trial at Swansea Crown Court. The teenager has admitted possessing a knife on school premises.

It is the prosecution case that the student launched a deliberate and planned “murderous attack” on the teacher with a kitchen knife which he had taken into the school in his bag.

It is the defence case that the injuries sustained by Mrs Williams were caused accidentally when the defendant refused to hand over the knife to the teacher when told to do so.

On Wednesday morning Mrs Jones told the court of the scene she found on February 5. In response to questions from prosecution barrister Christopher Rees KC Mrs Jones said she went to provide first aid to Mrs Williams following the incident.

Asked about Mrs Williams’ demeanor, Mrs Jones said: “She was obviously distressed, traumatised, upset, crying. She was shaking. Just her whole body in shock.”

The witness said Mrs Williams told her what had happened in the classroom. She told the jury: “She said [defendant’s name] came into the classroom and attacked her with a knife.”

Mrs Jones said she called 999 but she had to hand the phone over to a colleague to speak to the call handler because she was so upset she “couldn’t get the words out”.

Asked if she saw the knife, Mrs Jones said she did see it on the desk in the classroom and she described it as “unusually large for a knife at home… like a restaurant knife”.

The knife in question – inside a plastic tube – was shown to the witness who confirmed it was the one she saw that day. The knife was then shown to the judge and to the members of the jury.

On day two of the trial the jury heard from Mrs Williams, who described how her alleged assailant had a look of “pure hatred” in his eyes when he attacked her, and how she thought she was going to die at his hands.

The trial, before judge Paul Thomas KC, is expected to last three weeks. You can follow the evidence as it is heard today on our blog below, and you can stay up to date with all the latest from Wales’ courts via our crime newsletter.