Testwood School pupil jailed after stabbing fellow student in school hall

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reason, stabbed the girl in the abdomen with a four-inch kitchen knife at Testwood School in Totton.

Southampton Crown Court heard the teenager had gone to school armed with the knife, and also had a hammer in his rucksack.

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After the stabbing on March 26 he fled the school, but was arrested by police later that day.

Today Judge Christopher Parker QC sentenced him to four years behind bars, with an additional five years to be served on licence.

At a previous hearing in June, the boy admitted wounding with intent and possessing an offensive weapon during a Southampton Crown Court hearing in June.

Addressing the defendant Judge Parker said that he had taken into account both his mental health conditions, caused by a childhood trauma, and the risk he posed to the public.

As previously reported, scores of parents took to social media to express their shock at the incident.

Angela Augustine, mother of Alastair McChrystal, told the Echo: "I’m worried because my son is there, and he messaged me to say he felt sick. I hope the child’s alright.

"My son has got his GCSEs coming up. He is shaken by it. I am too.

"It’s one thing a fight happening, you expect that, but for a 15/16-year-old going in with a knife it makes you think, as a parent, is my child safe at the school?"

Relatives of a pupil said they saw the arrest of a young male close to the school.

A Year 7 pupil, interviewed with permission of his grandfather, told the Echo that after the incident his classroom had been locked by a teacher, although the school denied the buildings were locked down.

He said he saw the section where the incident happened get taped off during break-time, but he didn’t know why this was until he was told by a teacher at the beginning of third period.

It was in class when he heard the victim was the ex-girlfriend of the pupil believed to have committed the offence.

He said that a teacher was going into each classroom to tell pupils that armed police would be walking through the school. He said the teacher came back to update the children that the boy had been caught and the girl was alright around mid-day.

The boy added: “We were all worried until we were told they had caught the boy and the girl was alright.”

More to follow.

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