This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/ann-maguire-murder-teenager-killer-jailed-for-life-named-as-william-cornick-9836321.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Ann Maguire murder: Teenager killer jailed for life named as William Cornick Ann Maguire murder: Teenager killer jailed for life named as William Cornick
(35 minutes later)
The murderer of teacher Ann Maguire has been named as William Cornick. To his loving and supportive family, committed teachers and classmates Will Cornick bore all the hallmarks of a typical teenager.
A court order previously prevented the 16-year-old being identified because of his age but the judge lifted the restriction this afternoon following submissions from the media. Quietly spoken but academically successful he was a young man on the brink of adulthood. There had been troubles in the past, and some considered him to be a little withdrawn.
He was earlier jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years in prison for stabbing Mrs Maguire to death at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds. But no one, it seems, knew or could believe that inside the mind of the strapping 6ft 2in teenager burned a deep-seated and irrational hatred of a popular teacher whose life he was to cut brutally short.
The 61-year-old was attacked in front of her class of terrified pupils in April, just months before she was due to retire. In the first murder of a teacher by a pupil in a British classroom, Cornick, aged just 15, unleashed a frenzied attack on Ann Maguire in April – a killing it was later to emerge he had planned for months in advance, and which he hoped to celebrate with a bottle of Jack Daniels smuggled into the Roman Catholic school he attended in Leeds.
Mr Justice Coulson told Leeds Crown Court that Cornick had planned the stabbing and deliberately carried it out in front of children, taking pleasure in its public nature.
Will Cornick's Facebook profile pictureWill Cornick's Facebook profile picture
The judge also cited the teenager’s “total and chilling lack of remorse” as an aggravating factor, along with the fact Mrs Maguire did not die immediately and was in extreme pain with her injuries. Today Cornick, who had no previous criminal convictions, was told by a judge at Leeds Crown Court that he would most likely die in jail as he was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years after admitting the murder of Mrs Maguire and showing a chilling lack of remorse for his actions.
“It's quite possible that day (of his release) may never come,” he added. Following the attack he told psychiatrists he “could not give a s**t” about the grief of his victim’s family.
The prosecution showed Facebook messages dating back to Christmas showing Cornick’s intention and revealed that on the morning of the stabbing, he told classmates he planned to kill Mrs Maguire and two other teachers, including a pregnant woman “so as to kill her unborn child”. The boy showed them the knives he was carrying along with a bottle of Jack Daniels “to celebrate”, the court heard. “I know [they] will be upset but I don't care. In my eyes, everything I've done is fine and dandy,” he told experts. Mrs Maguire’s family described the attack as a “monumental act of cowardice and evil”.
Paul Greaney, a lawyer for the prosecution, said Cornick “winked” at a fellow student before entering Mrs Maguire's classroom and one witness said there was no expression on his face as he stabbed her in the back and neck. The killing took place in front of traumatised classmates who screamed in terror and panic as they watched their classmate wink at another boy before approaching the Spanish teacher – known by all as the “mother of the school” for her decades of loyal service in which she had shepherded generations of pupils through their exams.
She attempted to run away but was chased by the boy, who “stabbed her as she sought to escape”, Mr Greaney said. The youngster was a foot taller than his slightly built victim, towering over her as she helped other pupils with their work. After stabbing her seven times in the neck and back from behind, wounds described as the most horrific ever seen by one paramedic, he gave chase – but was blocked by the heroic actions of another teacher who tried to usher her to safety.
Witnesses reported that Cornick seemed “pleased” and he later told a psychiatrist it made him “happy”. He then sat down telling classmates it was a “pity” that she had not died instantly. Pupils described how the boy appeared pleased with what he had done and declared “good times”.
“I had a sense of pride. I still do,” the defendant said according to lawyers. “It's kill or be killed. I did not have a choice. It was kill her or suicide.” Despite suffering from an adjustment disorder and having psychopathic elements to his personality, his mental condition was not considered sufficient to mitigate the horror of his crime.
Outlining the psychiatric reports, Mr Greaney said Cornick was “currently highly dangerous and has psychopathic elements to his personality”. Mrs Maguire’s murder led to a huge outpouring of national grief and sparked a renewed debate on classroom safety.
His parents were in court for the sentencing, sitting in a separate area to Mrs Maguire’s family, and were visibly upset as he was led from the dock. But it emerged that neither the authorities, nor his “decent and responsible” parents had any idea the youngster had developed an “inexplicable” murderous antipathy towards Mrs Maguire, 61, who had taught at the successful and popular Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds for 40 years, and was due to take retirement at the end of the last academic year.
“It is important that we should record that it is clear from the evidence that the parents are decent people and responsible parents,” Mr Greaney told the court. The court heard how the teenager had sent Facebook messages the previous Christmas in which he outlined his scheme to kill Mrs Maguire in a classroom. He wanted to be caught and spend “the rest of his life in jail so as not to have to worry about life or money," prosecutor Paul Greaney QC said.
Ann Maguire was stabbed to death in front of pupils “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. Mr Greaney said the defendant had told a psychiatrist that he considered his victim to be “barely human”.
"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. “I wasn't in shock, I was happy. I had a sense of pride. I still do. I know it's uncivilised but I know it's incredibly instinctual and human. Past generations of life, killing is a route of survival. It's kill or be killed. I did not have a choice. It was kill her or suicide,” he said.
“On the contrary, (the boy's) family life was marked by love and support.” Two months before the killing he had told another friend that Mrs Maguire was: “The one absolute f****** bitch that deserves more than death, more than pain and more than anything that we can understand.”
After the hearing, Peter Mann, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “While his deep-seated hatred for Ann appears incomprehensible, we are clear that he calmly and methodically planned this cold-blooded attack on her. "He attacked Ann while she was helping children with their work and completely unable to protect herself. He has continued to show no remorse whatsoever." Ann Maguire was stabbed to death in front of pupils On another occasion he had spoken of killing a pregnant teacher and her unborn child. On the Sunday before the attack he had decided to take a large kitchen knife with him into class.
Additional reporting by PA The teenager, whose divorced parents Ian and Michelle Cornick were in court to hear the details of the case outlined, showed no emotion as Mr Justice Coulson said he should serve a minimum of 20 years in prison for the “truly grotesque” murder.
It was likely, in light of the severity of the crime, the trauma it had caused the young people that witnessed it and the defendant’s total “total and chilling lack of remorse” that he might never be released from prison.
The judge later overturned an order banning the identification of the killer and allowing him to be named in media reports. The prosecution said that the boy’s family were decent and responsible people and despite separating when he was young had worked hard to foster a close relationship.
“They are at a loss to understand how and why their son has turned out as he has and they have cooperated fully with the police and with the prosecution,” Mr Greaney said.
But whilst neither his family nor his teachers had noticed any serious change, classmates and friends observed that his personality altered. Cornick diagnosed with diabetes aged 12.
The condition meant he could not fulfil his ambition of joining the military. It led to episodes of self-harm and minor theft from his home but he continued to make progress academically, enjoying a 100 per cent attendance record and earning the praise of his teachers, one of whom described him as a “delightful boy”.
There had been a series of run-ins with Mrs Maguire that year following an otherwise high-achieving school career which had seem him already pass five GCSE exams. But relations between the teenager and the Spanish teacher had deteriorated when she banned him from attending a school trip after he failed to complete homework. He clashed with her during a disciplinary meeting, walking out and eventually being placed in internal exclusion.
Despite his professed hatred for Mrs Maguire, other pupils said she treated him exactly the same as she did other classmates.
Richard Wright QC for the defence said the actions were clearly those of “a deeply disturbed young man”. But he said there had been "no sign to anybody of what was to come".
In victim impact statements read out to the court, the true extent of the pain felt by the teacher's family was clear. They said they were “looking to the future with a fragile hope”.
But Mrs Maguire’s husband Don, with whom she planned to retire to a “rural backwater”, said his dreams of spending the rest of his days with his "beautiful, vivacious, generous, caring" wife had been destroyed.
Daughter Kerry said: “Mummy was a constant. Her love was boundless and her heart was open. She was a beacon of light, guiding and protecting me through my life.” Other daughter Emma said: "Every morning, I wake up and I pray that this is all a bad dream, just a split second of hope which quickly vanishes and the horror of the reality sets in."