Geezah
01-28-2005, 10:45 AM
LONDON (*******) - An inquiry into the murder of teenager Luke Walmsley, stabbed to death by a fellow pupil at his school, has ruled that nothing could have been done to stop it.
But Walmsley's parents said on Thursday the killer should have been expelled much earlier and that the probe had failed to deal with any of the main issues.
Walmsley, 14, was stabbed through the heart by Alan Pennell outside a classroom at Birkbeck School in Lincolnshire, in November 2003.
Pennell, now 16, who claimed he had only meant to scare his victim, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be detained for life last year.
An inquiry into the murder ruled there had been a history of animosity and fights between pupils which had heightened in the days before the fatal attack.
It said other pupils recalled that Pennell had made threats to kill Walmsley but no adult was told about them at the time.
But the inquiry report said nothing could have been done to prevent the attack, clearing the school, professionals and youth support agencies of failing to act.
"It was an extraordinary event with the most tragic outcome," the inquiry concluded.
"There were no clear predictive factors brought to the attention of any adult which would have indicated that Alan Pennell would kill Luke Walmsley."
Walmsley's parents said the report was flawed, saying Pennell had a history of violence which meant he should have been excluded from school.
"It hasn't addressed any of the major issues," Luke's mother Jayne told a news conference.
"It implied that Luke wasn't being bullied. At parents evening ... Luke said 'things were getting out of hand'. Luke was a big boy for his age and strong, and for him to admit that things were getting out of hand -- that should have made anyone think he was being bullied."
Walmsley's parents are now leading campaigners pushing for the government to toughen the law governing knives to make it as strict as those for guns.
They argue there should be a mandatory five-year minimum jail term for those caught carrying an object with a blade longer than three inches and a six-month term for carrying a shorter blade.
Link (http://www.*******.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=662173)
While I understand why the parents want to blame everyone and everything for the loss of their son, they need to focus on why Pennell attacked their son(and prevent future cases) rather than try to ban inanimate objects.
But Walmsley's parents said on Thursday the killer should have been expelled much earlier and that the probe had failed to deal with any of the main issues.
Walmsley, 14, was stabbed through the heart by Alan Pennell outside a classroom at Birkbeck School in Lincolnshire, in November 2003.
Pennell, now 16, who claimed he had only meant to scare his victim, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be detained for life last year.
An inquiry into the murder ruled there had been a history of animosity and fights between pupils which had heightened in the days before the fatal attack.
It said other pupils recalled that Pennell had made threats to kill Walmsley but no adult was told about them at the time.
But the inquiry report said nothing could have been done to prevent the attack, clearing the school, professionals and youth support agencies of failing to act.
"It was an extraordinary event with the most tragic outcome," the inquiry concluded.
"There were no clear predictive factors brought to the attention of any adult which would have indicated that Alan Pennell would kill Luke Walmsley."
Walmsley's parents said the report was flawed, saying Pennell had a history of violence which meant he should have been excluded from school.
"It hasn't addressed any of the major issues," Luke's mother Jayne told a news conference.
"It implied that Luke wasn't being bullied. At parents evening ... Luke said 'things were getting out of hand'. Luke was a big boy for his age and strong, and for him to admit that things were getting out of hand -- that should have made anyone think he was being bullied."
Walmsley's parents are now leading campaigners pushing for the government to toughen the law governing knives to make it as strict as those for guns.
They argue there should be a mandatory five-year minimum jail term for those caught carrying an object with a blade longer than three inches and a six-month term for carrying a shorter blade.
Link (http://www.*******.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=662173)
While I understand why the parents want to blame everyone and everything for the loss of their son, they need to focus on why Pennell attacked their son(and prevent future cases) rather than try to ban inanimate objects.