Ann Maguire murder: Boy, 16, sentenced to life

Cornick was 15 years old when he stabbed to death Mrs Maguire as she taught a class. Picture: PA

Will Cornick was 15 when he murdered 61-year-old Ann Maguire at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds earlier this year, stabbing her seven times in the back and neck.

Cornick, now 16, pursued Mrs Maguire out of the room, then went back into his classroom, sat down and said “good times”.

Yesterday, at Leeds Crown Court, judge Mr Justice Coulson said the teenager had shown a “total and chilling lack of remorse”, despite coming from a good family and never having been in trouble with the police before.

The judge set a 20-year tariff – the minimum time the boy must serve in custody before he is released – but added that, having read about him, “it’s quite possible that day may never come”.

Mrs Maguire’s family released a statement following the sentencing, saying they were “looking to the future with a fragile hope”.

During the attack in April, Cornick chased Mrs Maguire, “stabbing her as she sought to escape”, the court heard.

Outlining the case, prosecutor Paul Greaney, QC, said: “It is important that we should record that it is clear from the evidence that the parents of [the boy] are decent people and responsible parents. They are at a loss to understand how and why their son has turned out as he has and they have co-operated fully with the police and with the prosecution.

Tributes for Ann Maguire outside Corpus Christi School, Leeds. Picture: PA

“It follows that this is not one of those cases in which a defendant’s actions may find a degree of explanation in his family circumstances. On the contrary, [the boy’s] family life was marked by love and support.”

Mr Greaney said that made the defendant’s actions “all the more inexplicable”.

He said: “Mrs Maguire was at her desk helping pupils. She was leaning over, looking at the work of a girl.

“The defendant approached his teacher and began to stab her in the neck and back. He attacked her from behind.”

Mr Greaney said the boy was in Mrs Maguire’s Spanish class and his academic reports “had generally been positive”.

He said there was nothing to indicate to the boy’s parents or teachers a risk of “homicidal violence”.

But he said pupils had noticed disturbing aspects to his personality. The boy told other children that he hated Mrs Maguire and wanted her dead.

The prosecutor said: “Late on the night of Christmas Eve 2013 and into the early hours of Christmas Day, the defendant exchanged messages with a friend on Facebook. In those messages he spoke of ‘brutally killing’ Mrs Maguire and spending the rest of his life in jail so as not to have to worry about life or money.”

Cornick had left a room next to where Mrs Maguire was teaching and winked at a fellow student before going to attack her. There was no expression on the boy’s face as he stabbed her, one pupil said.

The court heard Cornick had earlier told pupils he wanted to attack other teachers, including a pregnant woman “so as to kill her unborn child”.

After the student had stabbed Mrs Maguire, she ran from the room and was shielded by a colleague, Susan Francis, who pushed her friend into a workroom and held her foot against the door to prevent Cornick from entering.

Mr Greaney said: “She was able to see [the boy] through a glass panel in the door. His face was emotionless and he then walked away.”

He added: “The bravery and decency of Susan Francis during this period stand in the starkest contrast to the conduct of [the boy].”

Mrs Maguire’s main wound was to her jugular vein. An attending paramedic said the stab wounds were the worst he had ever seen.

Classmates said Cornick had spoken of “an adrenalin rush” after the attack and seemed pleased with what he had done.

Mr Greaney said the teenager had told a psychiatrist: “I wasn’t in shock, I was happy.

“I had a sense of pride. I still do. I know it’s uncivilised, but I know it’s incredibly instinctual and human.

“Past generations of life, killing is a route of survival.

“It’s kill or be killed. I did not have a choice. It was kill her or suicide.”

He said that when the expert asked about the impact on Mrs Maguire’s family, the boy replied: “I couldn’t give a s***”.

Cornick had added: “I know the victim’s family will be upset, but I don’t care. In my eyes, everything I’ve done is fine and dandy.”

In a victim impact statement, which was read out in court yesterday, Don Maguire called the attack on his wife “a monumental act of cowardice and evil”. He described his wife as a “beautiful, vivacious, caring, generous human being”.

“We met and fell in love in the spring of 1972,” he said. “We were a very quiet, private couple, constantly dreaming of a rural backwater but the world seemed to shatter our hopes at regular intervals.

“Now all dreams have gone for ever. I am still a dad but I cannot help my children understand; can’t help them come to terms; can’t help lessen the pain.

“Mummy would have been much better. I can no longer be a dad. I fail every day. I need Ann.”

Cornick, who was wearing a grey suit and tie, stood flanked by two prison officers in the dock as the court clerk read out the charge.

He looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as he pleaded guilty to murdering Mrs Maguire.

Her family sat in an area of the courtroom normally reserved for court officials.

This year, she had moved to working four days a week ahead of her planned retirement and was not meant to be teaching on the day of her killing but had gone into school on her day off to help pupils prepare for their forthcoming exams.

Video statements from pupils who witnessed the attack were shown to the court.

As the students described what had happened, Mr Maguire shook his head. Other family members wiped tears from their eyes and looked over at the defendant in the dock.

Mrs Maguire’s daughter, Kerry, covered her face with her hands as Mr Greaney described how a friend and colleague had comforted her mother as she lay dying.

He said: “The murder was committed in public in front of many young people. The damage to those children remains to be seen but it is not difficult to imagine.

“The court would be entitled to conclude that the defendant derived pleasure from the public nature of the killing.”

He added: “The prosecution does not accept that this defendant’s psychiatric make-up affords any mitigation.

“He has an adjustment disorder with psychopathic tendencies. That does not reduce his culpability.”

Richard Wright, QC, for Cornick, told the judge that this was “a sentencing exercise without parallel” and added: “In the UK at least – an offence without precedent.”

He said the boy had given “no sign to anybody of what was to come”.

He added: “Plainly, these were the actions of a deeply disturbed young man.”

After the hearing, Peter Mann, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “While his deep-seated hatred for Ann appears incomprehensible, we are clear that he calmly and methodically planned this cold-blooded attack on her.

“He attacked Ann while she was helping children with their work and completely unable to protect herself. He has continued to show no remorse whatsoever.”

Speaking outside Leeds Crown Court, Chief Superintendent Paul Money described Mrs Maguire’s murder as a “cold-blooded, brutal and cowardly act”.

He said that the murder had been shocking and unprecedented.

He said the boy’s motive appeared to be an “inexplicable hatred of his teacher who was simply carrying out her duty”.

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