...and mother says son, nine, took blade into class ‘to scare off bully’

THE mother of a nine-year-old boy who brandished a knife in school yesterday said he was trying to scare off a bully.

The youngster – who she described as ‘no angel’ – was sent home after he showed off the blade in front of other children. Just two weeks earlier, the boy’s class was involved in a workshop with police on the perils of knife crime.

Parents were outraged about the incident on March 19, at St Paul’s CofE Primary in Stoke-on-Trent.

Now the boy’s mother has stepped into the row, saying he’s been bullied every day for two years. She said her son told her ‘he just wanted to scare him [the bully] so he’d stop and leave him alone’. She added: ‘It was a stupid thing to do and he understands that.’

While the mother accepts her son should be punished, she said teachers should have done more to prevent the issues with the other boy escalating.

Head Nicola Finney said: ‘ The welfare of our school’s children is our utmost priority.’