Murder of Ann Maguire

On 28 April 2014, 61-year-old teacher Ann Maguire (5 April 1953 – 28 April 2014)[1] was stabbed to death while teaching a Spanish lesson at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds, England. The perpetrator, William "Will" Cornick, who was 15 years old when he committed the murder, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 years at Leeds Crown Court on 3 November 2014.

Victim

Ann Maguire was aged 61 when she was murdered. She had spent her entire working life at the school and was due to retire in September. Her funeral service was held at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 16 May 2014.[2]

Among those paying tribute to Maguire were Pope Francis, Prime Minister David Cameron, and Frances Lawrence, widow of London headteacher Philip Lawrence who was murdered in 1995.[3]

An Educational Trust offering bursaries in artistic subjects was set up in her name.[2]

Perpetrator

Will Cornick
A white male teenager with dark hair and a black t-shirt, shown from the shoulders up. He has a neutral expression and is against a grey backdrop.
Mugshot of Cornick, taken by West Yorkshire Police
Born William Cornick
(1998-06-26) 26 June 1998[4]
Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
Nationality British
Occupation Student
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Criminal charge Murder
Criminal penalty Life with minimum of 20 years
Criminal status Incarcerated
Motive Hatred
Details
Victims Ann Maguire
Date 28 April 2014
Location(s) Corpus Christi Catholic College, Halton Moor, Leeds
Target(s) Teachers
Killed 1
Weapons Knife

Will Cornick's parents were separated, yet both were described as supportive.[5] He joined Corpus Christi in Year 7. His former Head of Year described him as polite and with 100% attendance. Prior to the murder, he had only five incidents of misbehaviour in four-and-a-half years at the school, and no criminal record.[5] Classmates described him as academically gifted, and unlikely to cause trouble.[6]

A personality change in Cornick had been noted following a collapse on holiday in Cornwall, after which he was diagnosed with diabetes.[7] He had briefly self-harmed due to the condition.[5] In 2013, he was upset at not being able to join the Army due to his diabetes.[5] On Christmas of that year, he sent a Facebook message to a friend in which he talked about "brutally murdering" Maguire.[5]

Murder

Cornick admitted to psychiatrists that he had been planning the murder, and intended to do it four days earlier.[5] Cornick, who had a "deep seated grudge" against Ann Maguire, had boasted he would murder his teacher for £10 to pals on Facebook.

He attended lessons as normal. After morning break, he went to the top floor for his Spanish lesson. Half way through the lesson, he stabbed Maguire seven times in the back and neck with a 21 cm knife in class on 28 April 2014. One cut straight through her jugular vein. He then chased her into the corridor where Susan Francis (Head of Languages), alerted by screams, ran to help her. She separated and shielded Maguire from Cornick.[8] Francis got Maguire away into another room where she held the door shut to keep Cornick out. He then returned to his class and told a friend that it was a shame that he had not killed Maguire.[7]

Cornick had brought a bottle of whisky to "celebrate" and admitted he planned to kill two other teachers.[7]

There is concern that the inquest into Maguire's death did not get the full picture. Cornick told young people who had been pupils at the school at the time that he planned to murder Maguire. These youngsters did not enter the witness box during the inquest.[9]

On his arrest, Cornick was detained at Wetherby Young Offenders Institution near Leeds, but due to concerns for his safety he was transferred to HM Prison Hindley near Wigan.[10]

Due to an anomaly in British law, although it was illegal to name or identify Cornick during his trial due to him being a minor, it was legal to name him before the trial began. The tabloid newspaper The Sun named him the day following the murder.[11]

Psychiatrists said that Cornick possessed “a gross lack of empathy for his victim and a degree of callousness rarely seen in clinical practice” and that he “presents a risk of serious harm to the public and that this risk is present for the foreseeable future. The risk is of grave homicidal violence and this could easily involve the use of a weapon. The risk is immediate and unpredictable and could cause serious and lethal injury.”[5]

He was imprisoned at Leeds Crown Court for a minimum of 20 years.[5] He has never shown any remorse for his actions. He said that he knew "the family would be pissed off", but he thought that "everything was fine and dandy".

Mr Justice Coulson lifted the restrictions on naming Cornick, saying that the action would have a "clear deterrent effect". Cornick's defence lawyer Richard Wright brought up that this would be illegal under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights due to immediate threat to his life, which the judge countered with Article 10, freedom of expression.[12]

Penelope Gibbs, who chairs the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ) umbrella group of charities and campaign groups, said the sentence was too long and more emphasis should be placed on rehabilitation. There is concern that the minimum tariff is excessive because the brain of a 15-year-old is not mature, neuroscientists do not currently understand fully how the brain matures during adolescence and rates of maturity vary between individuals.[13] Deborah Orr wrote:

At 15 or 16, a human brain is far from fully developed. The volatility of teenagers is partly a consequence of the accelerated neural sculpting that goes on in these years. (...) Cornick – or any person who commits a crime at 15 years of age – is not a fully developed human being. The man serving Cornick’s sentences will have a materially different brain and mind from the boy who committed the crime. Child criminals should be treated differently to adult criminals for this reason. (...) Cornick should have been given a sentence that pertained until his adulthood, at which point a judge would have been in a realistic position to receive information about the manner in which the rest of his sentence should be conducted. No one, not even a judge, can know at this point what kind of a man Cornick will become.[14]

Allegedly other western European nations would be less severe though the tariff appears to be in line with tariffs for other UK child murderers.[15]

In January 2015, Cornick lost an appeal against his sentence.[16]

In November 2017 an inquest is being held into Ann Maguire's death.[17]

References

  1. ↑ Woods, Mike (21 December 2014). "Ann Maguire remembered by Mike Woods". the Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Ann Maguire's husband tells teacher's funeral of her passion for her job". The Guardian. Press Association. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  3. ↑ Evans, Martin; Dixon, Hayley; Edgar, James (30 April 2014). "Teacher murder: Pope sends his condolences to family of Ann Maguire". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  4. ↑ https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/r-v-cornick.pdf
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pidd, Helen (3 November 2014). "Will Cornick: a model student who planned murder for three years". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Potts, Lauren (3 November 2014). "Ann Maguire stabbing: Killer was a 'typical, nice lad'". BBC News. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 Pidd, Helen (3 November 2014). "Will Cornick named and jailed: the boy who murdered his teacher". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Rayner, Gordon (3 November 2014). "Boy, 16, winked at fellow student before stabbing teacher Ann Maguire to death as she tried to flee". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  9. ↑ Ann Maguire inquest jury finds opportunities missed to save teacher The Guardian
  10. ↑ Allison, Eric (3 November 2014). "Will Cornick faces downhill path from young offender institution to prison". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  11. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (29 April 2014). "The Sun's naming of Leeds stabbing suspect highlights legal anomaly". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "Naming Will Cornick has clear deterrent effect, says judge". The Guardian. Press Association. 5 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  13. ↑ Age of criminal responsibility is too low, say brain scientists
  14. ↑ Will Cornick’s 20-year sentence for the killing of Ann Maguire defies logic
  15. ↑ Will Cornick sentence disproportionate, say youth justice campaigners
  16. ↑ "Ann Maguire murder: Teenage killer loses appeal against sentence". BBC News. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  17. ↑ Teenage killer of teacher Ann Maguire asked classmate to film attack The Guardian
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