Boy, 15, seconds away from carrying out school massacre

A SCHOOL in England was just seconds away from being the scene of a Columbine-style student massacre in June.

A boy aged 15 turned up at the school in Warwickshire with a shotgun, knife, balaclava and 200 rounds of ammunition, a court has been told.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took the shotgun and 200 cartridges from his father’s cabinet, plus a knife, balaclava and ear defenders.

He spent his first lesson at Higham Lane School, Nuneaton, with the firearm concealed before excusing himself from class and going to a side room. But as he prepared for the massacre he suddenly saw sense and called 999.

At Warwick Justice Centre, the boy admitted weapons possession with intent to endanger life and was yesterday given a six-year detention order. Upon

‘The consequences of what might have occurred had you carried your plan into effect are too awful to contemplate’

hearing his fate, the boy’s mother burst into tears, while he sat emotionless in the glass-panel dock.

Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told the boy: “You had led a good and productive life up until this point, being a model son and pupil. You had been suffering social anxiety disorder and severe depression, and had often felt yourself to be angry or hopeless. Very sadly you had not shared that with your parents or anyone else.”

He added: “Had you begun to shoot I have no doubt that serious injury and death would have resulted and it is impossible for me to predict how many might have been hit … the consequences of what might have occurred had you carried your plan into effect are too awful to contemplate.”

He added: “The event was, on your own admissions made at the time, just moments away.

“A moment in time separates the pupils and staff of this school from being the subject of a terrible event and a shooting that would have taken a dreadful place in the history of truly wicked crimes committed in this country.”

Prosecutor Nigel Stelling said: “In a report given to the court, the deputy head of the school said he was regarded as a polite, model student.

“Up to the morning of June 13 neither his parents nor anyone at the school were aware of any significant difficulties.”