A teenage woman who stabbed two academics and a pupil final yr had beforehand been discovered with a knife, BB gun and warfare memorabilia in her college bag, a evaluate has discovered.
The woman, who can’t be named attributable to her age, was 13 on the time of the attack at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Carmarthenshire on 24 April 2024.
Earlier this yr, she was found guilty of attempted murder and was sentenced to 15 years in detention.
A multi-agency review discovered the woman would have benefited from “focused assist” if “data had been totally shared and assessed”.
A joint assertion on behalf of Carmarthenshire council, Dyfed-Powys Police, Hywel Dda well being board and the varsity’s headteacher stated they might work on an motion plan.
Liz Hopkin, one of many academics who was attacked, stated she “welcomed” the report, however stated the suggestions “aren’t something new”.
She added that the report’s findings that there have been missed alternatives and there have been folks “with many items of the jigsaw”, none of which have been “put collectively as a gap” anxious her.
The impartial evaluate by Gladys Rhodes White discovered the woman was seen as “quirky” and had “uncommon pursuits” in warfare memorabilia and Hitler.
It added she had a fascination with weapons and would faux to talk German and Russian.
A BB gun [airgun] was present in her bag at a faculty she attended earlier than she joined Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.
In Might 2023, the woman threatened to make use of a knife on one other pupil, and a knife was present in her bag throughout a search in September 2023.
These incidents led to her father agreeing to day by day bag checks and the evaluate discovered counselling help was provided, however refused.
A referral to the Prevent anti-terrorism programme was thought of however not pursued.
The report discovered one other referral was made for an Early Help assessment however her father declined it.
In the course of the trial at Swansea Crown Court docket, the jury heard the woman carried a knife to school every day as an “intuition factor” as a result of she was bullied.
On 24 April 2024 {the teenager} used her father’s multi-tool knife and had informed different pupils she would stab Ms Elias.
She repeatedly stabbed her saying “I will kill you” earlier than Ms Hopkin was additionally stabbed as she intervened.
The woman then ran at a 14-year-old pupil with the knife and stabbed her earlier than she was restrained by teacher Darrel Campbell.
She informed police it was “one way to be a celebrity” after she was arrested.
Decide Paul Thomas KC stated the woman had not proven regret and had attacked the three for consideration.
PA MediaThe evaluate urged the woman had psychological well being challenges and had a troubled childhood with “fractured parental relationships” and publicity to home abuse.
The varsity had described her as exhibiting distinctive behaviours that made her stand out from friends developmentally.
The evaluate discovered the varsity had raised considerations throughout a faculty psychological well being session {that a} knife had been present in her college bag which led to police involvement.
The academics informed the impartial evaluate bullying was an ongoing challenge for {the teenager}, together with on the varsity bus.
Ms Rhodes White stated it was doubtless she was affected by a number of adversarial childhood experiences.
Whereas {the teenager} had been referred to psychological well being providers, the evaluate added it was tough to know whether or not her emotional well being might have been impacted by neurodiversity, as an evaluation or particular analysis for neurodiversity was not carried out.
{The teenager}’s father informed the evaluate he felt providers had let his daughter and the household down, however the creator urged a “sample” in company information of help presents being “declined or not adopted up”.
“It was clear on additional examination that she didn’t meet the brink for Stop intervention, however she clearly met a threshold for additional considerations to be explored, and for a danger evaluation to be undertaken,” Ms Rhodes White informed BBC Wales after the report’s publication.
“Sadly when she was referred for an early assist evaluation, the dad did not pursue that or cooperate, she did not, and the youngsters’s providers had no statutory powers at that stage to implement that.”
Ms Rhodes White’s report concluded the woman had skilled “a number of challenges which businesses had some consciousness of at totally different instances and in numerous methods”.
“Every company had their very own items of the jigsaw. In collating all of the items of the jigsaw, there’s a a lot clearer image of the extent of considerations round [her] mind-set and her related behaviours.”
She later added: “I really feel that there have been alternatives the place data sharing might have been strengthened… hindsight is an excellent factor.”
However her report stated “no data held by businesses recognized a transparent capacity to foresee the stunning and sudden occasions which occurred in April 2024”.
“Having been concerned in a number of critical circumstances, I did have a degree of concern about a few of the missed alternatives, however sadly it’s not unusual,” she added, including “it couldn’t have been predicted that on the day this was going to occur”.
Ms Rhodes White made a complete of 11 suggestions which included that “consideration needs to be given at an area and nationwide degree to safe ample sources and capability for businesses throughout all sectors, to have the ability to reply to ongoing rising ranges of complexity and wishes of youngsters and younger folks, significantly in colleges”.
She added the “potential for facilitating higher inter-agency sharing of complete, related and chronological data” needs to be explored.
“When kids are topic to delays for assessments, analysis or remedy, attributable to lengthy ready lists, businesses want to contemplate how such kids are monitored and helped throughout that point,” she added.
Ms Rhodes White additionally stated businesses ought to contemplate prioritising coaching.
Chatting with BBC Radio Wales Drive, Rocio Cifuentes, Wales’ kids’s commissioner, stated this was “a really uncommon incident”, which had “tragic influence on the academics”.
“The precise underlying challenge is a rising one and is affecting an rising cohort of younger folks and I believe what the report is looking for is a greater response to that rising want.”
She added that the principle advice from the report was extra resourcing was wanted to help colleges and assist them to fulfill the wants of “a rising cohort of younger people who find themselves presenting with more and more complicated and generally difficult behaviour”.
In a joint assertion, Carmarthenshire council, the headteacher of Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, Dyfed-Powys Police and Hywel Dda well being board stated they “acknowledge the difficult and tough circumstance confronted by the victims and the entire group” after the incident.
“We have now obtained the impartial report in respect of the Multi-Company Skilled Discussion board (MAPF), and can work with all companions to develop an motion plan to deal with its suggestions.
“Whereas it’s not regular to publish evaluations of this sort, or for such a evaluate to be undertaken independently, it was agreed for the Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Kids’s Board to publish the report on behalf of the businesses concerned within the MAPF to make sure all doable efforts have been made to be taught from these occasions and to take action in a clear and open means.”
The Welsh authorities stated: “It’s vital classes are learnt from this tragic and stunning occasion to make sure incidents like this by no means occur once more.
“It’s clear the varsity did every thing it might in response to the incident.”
It added it was working with companions “to develop more practical, multi-agency approaches to deal with behaviour points in colleges”.
