A 15-year-old boy who took a shotgun into school hidden in his trousers after plotting a Columbine-style mass shooting has been sentenced to a six year detention order.
The ‘polite, model student’ armed himself with the deadly weapon with the intent of gunning down classmates – but had a last minute ‘change of heart’.
A court heard he was seconds away from carrying out ‘a shooting that would have taken a dreadful place in the history of truly wicked crimes’ committed in Britain.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, brought his father’s double-barrelled shotgun into Higham Lane School on June 13 along with 200 cartridges and a knife
He hid the shotgun in his trousers during the first period in school and went into a side room to prepare the weapon and don ear defenders before changing his mind about killing his friends
Instead, he called police and said he felt a ‘white hot anger’ and wanted to harm ‘anyone’ before police arrived at the scene on June 13, pictured
The boy, who cannot be named, took the double-barrelled shotgun and 200 cartridges from his dad’s cabinet as well as a knife, balaclava and ear defenders.
He then spent his first lesson with the firearm concealed in his trousers at Higham Lane School, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on June 13.
But as the teen was putting on ear protectors in preparation of his massacre in a side room alone he suddenly saw sense and phoned 999.
He told call-handlers he felt ‘white hot anger’ and intended to harm ‘anyone’ before adding: ‘I don’t know why I have it, I just had to get it out.’
The court heard the incident could have had ‘appalling’ consequences – similar to the Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Columbine High School massacres in America.
The youth pleaded guilty to possessing the shotgun and the cartridges with intent to endanger life in June and was sentenced at Warwick Justice Centre on Friday.
Upon hearing his fate, the boy’s mum burst into tears, while he sat emotionless in the class-panelled dock, having earlier been allowed to sit in the main body of the court.
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC, who also sat in court rather than the bench, told the youngster: ‘You have lived a good life and it is plain to me that this event was outside the character that you have exhibited for your whole life.
‘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.
The youngster pleaded guilty to possessing the shotgun and cartridges with intent to endanger life at the school, pictured, during a hearing at Warwick Justice Centre on Friday
Judge Andrew Lockhart told the boy: ‘You have lived a good life and it is plain to me that this event was outside the character that you have exhibited for your whole life’
‘Very sadly you had not shared that with your parents or anyone else, which doubt contributed to the condition worsening.
‘You were a well respected pupil at Higham Lane School in Nuneaton.
‘This school with 1,230 students enrolled – the place of education for them and the place of work for a large number of teachers and ancillary staff.
‘A place where children are left by their parents to be safely educated.
‘That Tuesday morning, you got up and as far as your parents were concerned were behaving perfectly normally as you prepared for school.
‘Your mother left and then you began your preparation for this offence, seeking out the key for the secure shotgun cabinet, taking out the lawfully held 12 bore double barrelled shotgun and no less than 200 cartridges.
‘You took up ear defenders to protect your hearing in the shooting that you anticipated.
‘It is safe to conclude that you bore the intention to endanger life and planned an offence where life was to be endangered across the course of at least one and a half years.
The boy was also carrying a balaclava and a knife at the time, pictured, of his planned attack
‘What was your intention? By your plea it is plain that it was to endanger life and you were to say the 999 operator and later to others that at the time that you intended at some point in that period to use the gun to hurt somebody else – ‘anybody’.
‘You did this because you said you felt angry and upset.
‘The actions that you took was to excuse yourself from the lesson of a trusted and kind teacher and to go to a small room in order to prepare the gun to shoot at others.
The consequences of what might have occurred had you carried your plan into effect are too awful to contemplate
‘You assembled the shotgun from the consistent parts, you took up two cartridges and loaded it.
‘You got as far as fitting the ear defenders. It was then that you saw sense and emerging from the offending called 999 and sought the help you needed.
‘All who might have been a target would have been whole innocent victims without any argument with you – the targets of your pent-up feelings and aggression.
‘Had you begun to shoot I have no doubt that serious injury and death who have resulted and it is impossible for me to predict how many might have been hit.
‘Once an incident of shooting begins it is impossible to predict how it will end.
‘The consequences of what might have occurred had you carried your plan into effect are too awful to contemplate.
‘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.
‘I am satisfied that the best way of achieving these things is to sentence you to a term of detention.’
The court heard the boy took the weapon, which he used with his father for clay pigeon shooting, after finding the key to a locked cabinet.
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.
‘On the day in question, he looked for and found the keys to his father’s gun cabinet.
‘No-one, as he walked to school was aware that he had the gun or the cartridges.
‘He attended punctually his first lesson.
The 999 call handler instructed the boy how to disarm the shotgun before police arrived
‘After about ten minutes or so he spoke to his teacher saying that he had a music lesson to attend.
‘It was regarded as unusual, but because he was in no way, shape or form and unruly pupil, he was allowed to leave the class.
‘What happened next was a call to 999 by himself. He told the call handler about the gun and the ammunition.
‘He said that the shotgun was loaded and he was within the school. He said that it was with the school.
‘The call handler was asked if he had any mental health issues and he said ‘not diagnosed’.
‘He went on to say that he had 200 cartridges, the majority of which were stored in a bag.’
The call handler was also told of how the boy was depressed and had mood swings and suicidal thoughts.
When asked how long he had been feeling this way, he said: ‘About a year, just getting sadder and sadder’.
The ‘heroic’ call handler then instructed him on how to disarm the weapon, and the boy then left it outside the classroom.
A teacher then found the boy in the classroom and comforted him while the police arrived.
Delroy Henry, defending, said: ‘It is significant that the weapon was not brandished.
‘It is significant that the weapon was not used to instil fear in those around him.
‘He is a boy of previously good character.
‘In fact, he is of exemplar character as it is his teachers themselves who have given him glowing character references.’