13-year-old charged with attempted murder after London school stabbings

Police in London on Thursday said they had charged a 13-year-old boy with two counts of attempted murder after pupils were stabbed at a school in the capital.

The boy, who cannot be identified due to his age, also faces charges of possessing a knife on school premises and spraying insect spray in the face of a third victim.

The stabbing victims, two boys aged 12 and 13, remained in hospital, London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Both were described as being in a “stable” condition following the attack at Kingsbury High School in northwest London at lunchtime on Tuesday.

Due to circumstances surrounding the incident, the investigation was passed to counter terrorism officers “although at this time, it has not been declared as a terrorist incident”, said senior police officer Helen Flanagan of Counter Terrorism Policing London.

These are extremely serious charges against a young boy, and we continue to support the victims and their families, as well as the wider school community following this shocking incident,” she said

The UK, and London in particular, has long grappled with teenage violence and the use of knives, while violence within schools has been growing nationwide, according to unions representing teachers.

An investigation involving counter terrorism officers alongside Met detectives was “ongoing”, Flanagan added.

The 13-year-old suspect was arrested in the local area several hours after the incident.

He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in central London on Thursday.

AFP