Teenage killer winked before launching attack

threats: Fellow pupils were afraid to raise the alarm after Will Cornick showed them his knife

A teenager winked and smiled at a fellow pupil just before he stabbed teacher Ann Maguire to death in her classroom, an inquest jury has heard.

The boy said Will Cornick also showed him a large kitchen knife before he killed Mrs Maguire moments later at Corpus Christi Catholic College, in Leeds, in April 2014, Wakefield Coroner’s Court heard.

In a statement read to the court, the teenager explained that he and Cornick were working in the room next to where Mrs Maguire was just before the incident.

He told police officers how Cornick got a large knife out of his bag and showed it to him.

The boy said Cornick asked “if I wanted to touch it to see how sharp it was”.

In his statement, the teenager said Cornick then left to go into the next door room where Mrs Maguire was teaching some other pupils.

He said: “He just winked and smiled at me as he left the room.”

The boy said he did not know what happened after that until he heard noises next door.

He said he did not know why he did not immediately report that Cornick had a knife.

The boy said: “I was in shock. I did not really know what to do.

“I know I should have told someone, but in the room I was in there wasn’t any teachers supervising us.”

The jury has heard how Cornick told a number of children on the morning of the tragedy what he was planning to do to Mrs Maguire and two teachers.

Nick Armstrong, the barrister representing Mrs Maguire’s husband – Don – and their four children, has explained to the jury how one of the key issues for the inquest is why none of these children reported what they had been told.

Cornick, who was 15 at the time of the incident, admitted murdering Mrs Maguire. He was detained for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years.

In another statement read to the jury, one teenager said Cornick described how he would “stab her in the neck because it was a certain kill”.

Another child said he panicked after he was shown the knife but Cornick told him: “If you go and get someone I’ll do it faster and I’ll get you too.”

In his statement read out in court, this boy said Cornick showed him and others the knife in his bag after he first arrived at school that morning – April 28 2014.

He said that Cornick told him at that time: “I’m going to stab Mrs Maguire.”

The teenager said he did not take it seriously at first.

He said: “It’s like no one believed him. He said stuff all the time like that.” “No one thought anything about it.” The boy said: “So many people cared about her (Mrs Maguire). It’s like I could have stopped it and I did nothing.”

The inquest heard how another boy told police: “He said that if we told anybody he’s going to f ****** kill us too.”

This boy added: “In a high school someone saying they’re going to kill a teacher is just a joke.”

The inquest was adjourned until next week.