A 16-year-old boy with a ‘hatred for women’ has been found guilty of attempted murder after stabbing a girl, 15, at school.
The boy, then 15, stabbed the girl in the back on March 11 at Thorpe St Andrew School in Norfolk.
Dressed completely in black with a mask, he used a kitchen knife after developing an ‘obsessive and dangerous interest in killers and killing’, prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said.
The boy pleaded guilty to wounding with intent and possession of a knife at school but denied attempted murder at King’s Lynn Crown Court.
The jury found him guilty, with the prosecution arguing he went to the school ‘not to learn but to kill, taking with him a kitchen knife which he used to stab’.
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Police had found a ‘handwritten list of names’ titled ‘Victims?’ after the attack. He also had a fascination with fictional serial killer Paul Spector, from BBC TV show The Fall.
He captioned one video of the character ‘me btw’ and also had another video of another TV show killer, Dexter Morgan from the series Dexter, dancing.
In a note written before the attack, the boy also wrote: ‘I really want to do it, really bad, I hate having to wait, I hate it, but I have to wait.
‘I’ve already got a good idea, tomorrow or Thursday or next week. That’s it. I want at least two, maybe three, I would be very proud of five.’
The note continued: ‘Motive = misanthropy, misogyny, suicide, bullying. Weapon = knife x2? Death = 2+ hopefully, injuries a lot hopefully.’
It was pinned above his bed, along with the message: ‘My barren world… Hello to all readers out there in the UK and perhaps even the world. If you’re reading this, I am either dead or in custody.
‘I imagine the police will be the first to read this and seize it as evidence, so I will make something very clear. I made this decision to do so on my own. Nobody told me to. Just me. Nobody knew I wanted to do this. Not a single soul.’
The girl, who was not more seriously injured due to ‘sheer good fortune’, said it felt like ‘she had been punched’ and struggled to find a door as ‘everything was going numb and feeling weak’.
She then went into a classroom and told a teacher: ‘Sir, I’ve been stabbed.’
The judge, Mr Justice Lickley, said: ‘I’m sure you understand because of the very serious nature of the offence I will have to consider not only a custodial sentence but one of some considerable length.’
He will be sentenced on December 18.