Sentence for boy, 14, who stabbed girl 10 times CANNOT be changed after the judge calls him a 'bright lad'
Judge Ian Lawrie, who handed the 14-year-old attacker a 12-month referral order after ruling prison was the "last place" he should be, despite the boy stabbing his victim at least 10 times.CCTV footage from inside the Cirencester shop where the boy stalked and repeatedly stabbed the girl after she rejected him, also knifing a shopkeeper who tried to intervene.
Judge Ian Lawrie KC freed a 14-year-old boy with nothing more than a referral order and a restraining order after the boy stalked a female classmate in Cirencester, lay in wait outside a shop, and drove a six-inch kitchen knife into her body a minimum of ten times when she turned down his request to date him. The victim's mother described the outcome as 'absolutely disgraceful', adding that her daughter now effectively 'has the prison sentence' — too frightened to go anywhere unaccompanied. Because the case falls outside the referral provisions, the Court of Appeal cannot be asked to review the sentence, making it final.
The judge's own transcript shows he acknowledged the boy displayed 'behaviour dysfunctionality which causes me grave concern', yet went on to describe him as a 'bright lad' from a 'solid family background'.
A shopkeeper who intervened to pull the boy away was stabbed in the back in the process; the mother said that without his involvement, and her daughter's swift reactions, the attack would almost certainly have been fatal.
The Ministry of Justice said it is 'reviewing how the law can better protect victims in youth courts' — scant consolation for a family the mother says has been left with neither justice nor protection.
