School killings are thankfully rare but most seem to involve a knife

THE killing of pupils by other children is rare in Scottish schools.

While acts of violence are not uncommon, they do not usually end in fatalities.

Diane Watson, 16, pictured, was in the playground of Whitehall Secondary School, in Dennistoun, Glasgow, when she was attacked and killed by Barbara Glover more than 20 years ago. The 15-year-old was reported to have mistakenly believed Diane had stolen her boyfriend.

Glover had hidden a large kitchen knife in her bag and stabbed the girl to death in 1991.

There have been few killings by pupils in schools across the UK.

In 2003, schoolboy Luke Walmsley died after being stabbed in the chest with a six-inch blade. Not realising how severely wounded he was, Luke, who was 14, tottered a few steps before collapsing bleeding in front of his friends in a school corridor in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.

He had been attacked as he waited to go into class after an alleged row with another pupil.

In 2000, a 14-year-old boy was jailed indefinitely for murdering a fellow pupil on the last day of school.

Daniel Nelson stabbed 15-year-old Leon Henry in front of dozens of youngsters just outside the gates of their comprehensive school.

The murder took place at Alperton Community School, in Wembley, North London, in June 1999.

Nelson collapsed in tears when the sentence was handed down by the judge.

Leon’s mother, Sandra, shouted from the public gallery: “That was my son you killed. Go on, you cry. You killed my son.”