A troubled teenager who was “seconds away” from carrying out a mass school shooting in Nuneaton is set to be freed after a top judge described him as a “model son”.
The 15-year-old took a double-barrelled shotgun and 200 cartridges into Higham Lane School, in Nuneaton on June 13 last year.
He also had a knife and a balaclava.
The teen was given a six year custodial sentence at Warwick Crown Court in September 2017 - but now Lady Justice Hallett has ruled he needs help as much as punishment.
The day of the drama
The teenager walked into the school soon after pupils arrived with the shotgun stashed in his clothing.
He moved to a quiet area of the building where he “decided to load the shotgun”, said his barrister, Simon Russell-Flint QC.
“But it appears that was immediately followed by him realising the stupidity of his actions,” he added.
He rang 999 on his mobile phone and told the operator that “he had a shotgun and ammunition and was at a school”.
When asked why, he replied: “I don’t know why - I felt so angry this morning, I had to get it out”.
Quizzed further by the operator, he admitted that he was “thinking of using it on someone else”.
Mental health problems
The boy - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - was suffering from severe depression and social anxiety at the time, Lady Hallett told London’s Appeal Court.
Bottling up his emotions for months, he had recently been diagnosed with a type of autism and had suffered bullying in the past.
“We have concluded that this is a case in which the welfare of this child goes hand in hand with the protection of the public,” she said.
“He was a model son ... who had exhibited no aggressive or disruptive behaviour before this incident.”
Had the teenager not dialed 999 himself “nobody would have been any the wiser”, the judge added.
Release from prison
The teenager admitted having the gun with intent to endanger life, and possessing the cartridges and a knife.
Jailing him last year, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC said: “A moment in time separated the pupils and staff of this school from being the subject of a terrible shooting that would have taken a dreadful place in history of truly wicked crimes committed in this country.”
But Lady Justice Hallett said the boy had shown only a “fleeting intention” to use the shotgun, before he rapidly “came to his senses”.
“He took this gun from a secure cabinet with the intention of harming people at the school,” she added.
“It was when he was putting on his ear protectors that he changed his mind and rang the police.”
Social workers had recommended the boy be freed under a supervision order, subject to a comprehensive rehabilitation package.
And Lady Justice Hallett, who was sitting with two other senior judges, ruled: “We are satisfied that it would be appropriate, once we are informed the arrangements are in place, to follow the recommendations made.”
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