Family Hope Further Steps Can Be Taken To Learn Lessons

The long-awaited inquest into the death of Leeds teacher Ann Maguire who was stabbed by a pupil in April 2014 has concluded today.

Spanish teacher Ann Maguire, 61, was stabbed to death by Will Cornick at Corpus Christi Catholic College, Leeds, in April 2014. The school pupil, who was 15 at the time, admitted murdering Mrs Maguire and was given a life sentence in 2014. The inquest has concluded that Ann was unlawfully killed and that there were missed opportunities to share and record problem behaviour.

Ann’s family have long campaigned for a full investigation into her death and believe that more could have been done to prevent the tragedy. They have battled over the past year for more evidence to be made available at the hearing. 

Mr Maguire gave evidence on day 1 of the inquest. He said Ann had a “very strong belief that if you want to put something right, you have to look at it very carefully, examine it, understand it, and then learn and move on”. 

After the inquest Mr Maguire said: “The jury has now started the process of learning lessons which should have been started 3 and a half years ago. We want to thank the jury for their careful consideration of the evidence presented. The next step has to be to dig deeper and find out more.

“We still believe there is more to learn and we are disappointed that there is still evidence that has not been heard. During the inquest, we have heard teachers, police officers and OFSTED inspectors all trying to speculate why no student reported the fact of a 34cm knife being brought into school accompanied by threats to kill a teacher. None of those adults have been able to explain why it was not reported. 

“We don’t seek to blame anyone, simply to understand what went wrong on that day to prevent it happening again.”

Expert Opinion

“The family remain committed to finding out exactly what happened on the day she was killed and the lead up to it. They believe it is the only way that lessons will be learned from the incident. They will consider the coroner’s recommendations and hope that they will be consulted by the Secretary of State and any other agencies the coroner has decided to contact.

"They would like to ensure that proper policies, processes and systems are put in place for all schools and that there is a widespread change in culture to prevent a similar murder taking place. The family will be considering their next steps over the coming weeks – the jury clearly believes that there is more to investigate.” Yogi Amin - Partner and National Head of Public Law and Human Rights