The 16-year-old boy sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of a Leeds teacher can now be named after a judge agreed it was in the public interest to do so.
He is Will Cornick, who was 15, when he walked up behind Ann Maguire in a classroom at Corpus Christi Catholic college and stabbed her to death in front of her class.
Cornick – whose identity had been protected by a court order – had previously admitted murdering Ann Maguire, 61, in her classroom at Corpus Christi Catholic college on 28 April. Her family were in Leeds crown court to hear his guilty plea.
Cornick was 15 and studying for his GCSEs at the time of the attack, the court had heard.
The minimum sentence for the crime is usually 12 years but the judge said he was increasing that because of seven aggravating features including the fact that it was premeditated, committed in public, in front of children and witnesses who were traumatised, and that Maguire had died in “extreme pain”.
He added that the boy showed a chilling lack of remorse.
Until the attack Cornick lived with his mother and older brother in a semi-detached house a mile from Corpus Christi. His parents, Ian and Michelle, split up in 2003, when Cornick was four.
Both parents had sat with him in the dock at Leeds crown court as he admitted the killing. His family are understandably horrified at what their boy has done, devastated at the pain he has inflicted on Maguire’s loved ones. They have given no interviews and have asked for privacy as they struggle to process all that has happened.
Paul Greaney QC, prosecuting, told the court that the boy’s parents were “at a loss to understand how and why their son has turned out as he has”.
Speaking outside the court after the verdict, the Maguire family’s solicitor said in a statement that she was a “genuine teacher with a generous spirit, who always led by example”. He said the family thanked the public and the school community for the love and support they had received over the “past troubled months”. But, he said, they “look to the future with a fragile hope”.
Maguire’s daughter Emma had previously told the court: “Every morning I wake up hoping it’s all a bad dream. There’s a split second before reality sets in.” Maguire’s husband, Don, said: “There will be no closure. Balance will never return. There will be no level scales.”
The court heard that Maguire was Cornick’s Spanish teacher. The boy, whose parents had sat with him in the dock at Leeds crown court as he admitted the killing, had been a model pupil in year 7, was “amicable, enthusiastic and conscientious” but changed after being diagnosed with diabetes. The diabetes had a major impact on his mood and personality. His mother noticed evidence of self-harming.
He was upset that his diabetes would prevent him from joining the army. He started to harbour a hatred for Maguire, the court heard.
Cornick told other pupils he had been carrying a knife and wanted Maguire dead: police discovered many images of knives on his mobile phone. On Christmas eve 2013 told a friend on Facebook that he wanted to “brutally kill” Maguire and spend the rest of his life in jail.
Cornick told one friend he planned to kill two other teachers as well as Maguire – one was young and pregnant.
On the day of the murder Cornick took knives to school and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whisky in order to “celebrate afterwards”.
The attack took place at Maguire’s desk. Cornick was in her Spanish lesson. He told a pupil of his plan and winked as he left to kill her.
He attacked Maguire from behind, the court heard. She was 5ft 2in: a foot shorter than her killer. He was expressionless as he stabbed her in the neck and back.
After stabbing the teacher and chasing her out of the classroom Cornick calmly returned to his desk and, according to witnesses, said: “Pity she didn’t die.”
The court then heard harrowing video testimony from pupils who witnessed the attack. “I was in absolute panic,” said one classmate.
Susan Francis, a colleague of Maguire’s, heard screaming. She rushed into the corridor and was confronted by pupils running, screaming. Maguire was holding her neck and said: “He’s stabbed me in the neck.” The boy followed her. Francis pushed Maguire into another classroom and held her foot against the door to stop the boy entering. She could see his “emotionless” face through the door window. Francis sat with Maguire comforting her and telling her she was loved.
Cornick then returned to his seat and said: “Good times”, according to witnesses. He also spoke of an adrenalin rush. One pupil said it appeared that he was pleased with what he had done.
Two teachers entered the room and the boy put his hands in the air as if in surrender. He told them of “other naughty stuff” in his bag. When police arrived they were struck by his “calmness and air of normality”. He chatted with officers about their hobbies, the court heard.
Cornick told a psychiatrist he killed Maguire because “life is pretty fucking shit” and that he had planned a triple homicide. He said he did not regret his actions and was pleased to have killed the teacher but “it didn’t live up to” his expectations.
He later said: “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.”
A paramedic with 30 years’ experience said Maguire’s wounds were the worst she’d ever seen. All were inflicted from behind.
At an earlier court hearing in July Cornick accepted responsibility for unlawfully killing Maguire, but stopped short of admitting he had murdered her. Following this admission, the judge ordered a series of psychiatric assessments, which concluded that he was of sound mind when he was carrying out the attack. That conclusion meant he was deemed fit to stand trial for her murder.
Since his arrest at the school he has been remanded in youth custody. He has not spoken in court, other than to give his name and date of birth and indicate he understood proceedings.
Cornick is the first secondary school pupil to have ever murdered a teacher in a British classroom. After the attack Maguire was taken by ambulance to Leeds general infirmary but died around an hour after being admitted.
A postmortem established the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage. “Although there were a number of stab wounds, a stab wound to her neck had severed her jugular vein and was the fatal injury,” pathologist Brian Roger told a coroner earlier this year.
