Tragedy of Bailey could happen again in any school, warns expert
THE investigator who probed the Bailey Gwynne stabbing has issued a stark warning to middle-class parents who think such a tragedy could never happen in their children’s school. Andrew Lowe, who conducted the report into the 16-year-old’s death, said the fight that had such tragic consequences was ‘a fairly classic tussle you might see between boys at any school’.
Bailey was knifed in October last year after a fight with another boy at Cults Academy, in Aberdeen. His killer, who is also 16, was convicted of culpable homicide.
Mr Lowe’s report, published earlier this month, found Bailey’s death was ‘potentially predictable and avoidable’ but his teachers were in no way to blame.
The child protection expert also proposed education professionals be given more powers to search pupils for weapons.
Now, in an interview with the Times Educational Supplement Scotland, Mr Lowe warns schools that, regardless of how middle-class they are, a similar incident could occur among their pupils. He said: ‘This tragedy has revealed these incidents don’t only happen in inner cities and troubled neighbourhoods. My message would be this: it is you in the schools, who think this has nothing to do with you, who need to listen.’
During the trial it emerged that other pupils had seen Bailey’s killer’s weapon – a £40 knife purchased on Amazon. In his report, Mr Lowe concluded that had pupils reported that the killer carried weapons in school, the incident would have been ‘potentially predictable and avoidable’.
Mr Lowe added: ‘A school is a community and pupils and teachers and auxiliary staff all have a duty to each other to make sure school is safe.
‘One of the things about this tragedy was people knew this young man carried weapons, but did not think it necessary to inform teachers.’
The former director of social work, who is the chairman of child and adult protection in Renfrewshire, said the recommendations in his report – including the need to make it easier for pupils to report information about weapons in schools to staff – were relevant to all schools.
Cults Academy was ranked Sunday Times state school of the year in 2008. Bailey, who dreamed of becoming a Royal Marine, was stabbed as the boys fought near the toilets. Seconds later, a teacher broke up the fight.
The youngsters were walking to the school office when Bailey collapsed as a result of ‘catastrophic’ blood loss.
Bailey’s killer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed for nine years in April after being found guilty of culpable homicide at the High Court in Aberdeen.
During his trial, the killer said he bought the knife because he thought it was ‘cool’. He purchased it online from Amazon so he could bypass age checks.
Passing sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lady Stacey said: ‘Buying the knife and taking it to school is what started the terrible course of events that led to Bailey losing his life.
‘If you had not carried a knife, the exchange of insults between you and Bailey would have led, at the worst, to a fist fight in which there would probably have been no serious injury and almost certainly no loss of life.’
‘Potentially avoidable’