LEEDS: Student Admits Ann Maguire Murder

3 November 2014, 11:08 | Updated: 3 November 2014, 11:10

A teenage student has admitted murdering his school teacher Ann Maguire in Leeds.

The pupil stabbed 61 year old Mrs Maguire as she taught a class at Corpus Christi Catholic College in April, when he was 15. 

He admitted murder when he appeared at Leeds Crown Court. 

Prosecutor Paul Greaney QC told the court: ''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. 

''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 added that that made the defendant's actions ''all the more inexplicable''. 

He said the boy was in Mrs Maguire's Spanish class and his academic reports ''had generally been positive''. 

Mr Greaney said there was nothing to indicate to the boy's parents or teachers a risk of ''homicidal violence''. But, he said, pupils 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.'' 

The defendant looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as he admitted murdering Mrs Maguire. The teenager's parents sat at the back of the dock and listened intently to the details of their son's crime. 

Mrs Maguire's family sat in an area of the courtroom normally reserved for court officials, while the large public gallery was packed with members of the press.