Will Cornick will be one of 1,183 people under 18 in custody, according to the most recent figures, and because of the nature of his crime, one of the most notorious. Like Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the child killers of Jamie Bulger, he was named by the trial judge after being found guilty of murder.
The 16-year-old, who pleaded guilty on Monday to the murder of teacher Ann Maguire, will almost certainly begin his minimum 20-year sentence in a specialist unit of a young offender institution (YOI).
After his arrest he was held at the Keppel high dependency unit at Wetherby YOI, a few miles from Leeds crown court, but when concerns were raised for his safety there he was transferred to Hindley YOI near Wigan.
He has almost certainly been held in that jail’s Willow unit, which specialises in the care of children with complex psychological needs. But Hindley is set to close, which will provide the prison service with a problem. The Keppel unit is the only other specialist centre in England and Wales, so he may have to return there.
The self-contained Keppel unit, which is run on therapeutic lines, is separate from the main prison and is home to around 40 boys, aged between 16 and 18, described as being capable of extreme violence both to themselves and others. There are currently 16 children under 18 serving life sentences for murder, and some are believed to be at the Keppel unit.
Cornick will probably remain there until his 18th birthday, when he will moved to one of the YOIs designated for 18-21-year-olds – in all probability either Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, or Swinfen Hall, in Staffordshire. After that he will moved to an adult jail. In terms of the quality of life inside, it will be a downhill journey from 18 onwards.
There is another possible route through custody for Cornick. Even though the court considered him fit to plead, it is understood he is still undergoing psychiatric assessment.
The threshold for determining mental health is lower for young people than for adults, so there is a chance he will serve his sentence in a secure hospital rather than in a jail. However, he could not be transferred to hospitals such as Rampton or Broadmoor before he is 18.
