Bradford stabbing: 14-year-old boy being hunted by police after school attack
Male teacher has been taken to hospital
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Police are searching for a 14-year-old boy after a teacher was stabbed at a school in Bradford.
The male teacher was taken to hospital but described by West Yorkshire Police as being in a stable condition following the “very serious incident”. Officers said he had suffered a single stab wound to the body.
The missing boy was described as Asian, with short dark hair, and was last seen wearing a blue uniform blazer.
Police said they were called at around 8.55am on Thursday to Dixons Kings Academy in Bradford, and later told reporters that children were being kept in classrooms while the incident was investigated.
The school’s business manager, Shasta Ali, told The Independent that the academy was “currently assisting police with their inquiries”. She declined to comment further.
In a statement posted to the school’s website, it said: “There has been an incident at Dixons Kings Academy this morning. The police and the academy are working together to investigate the incident.
“There is currently no ongoing risk to pupils or staff at the school. The school is continuing to operate as normal and Police Officers, including Safer Schools Officers, are on site to support staff and students.”
Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson, of West Yorkshire Police's Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “We are conducting enquiries in the area to locate a suspect and I would like to reassure residents and staff that all necessary resources are being deployed to investigate this ongoing and clearly very serious incident.
“At this stage we do not believe there is an ongoing risk to pupils or staff at the school. The rest of the school is continuing to operate as normal and local officers, including safer schools officers and members of the local area neighbourhood team, are currently at the school and are liaising closely with staff.”
The incident happened less than 20 miles from a school in Leeds where 61-year-old teacher Ann Maguire was stabbed to death by 15-year-old pupil Will Cornick.
Cornick, now 16, was jailed for a minimum of 20 years for stabbing Ms Maguire seven times as she taught a Spanish class at Corpus Christi Catholic College in April last year. She was due to retire that September.
Ian Murch, from the National Union of Teachers in Bradford, said that after the death of Ms Maguire it was "desperately sad and quite shocking" that "it's happened again".
He's told BBC Radio Leeds that it "raises issues about knives in schools". "You don't want to impose more security but another incident like this is very worrying."
Dixons Kings Academy was praised in a letter from Ofsted only last month for turning around pupil behaviour and attendance since it was taken over by the Dixons chain in January.
Set up as one of the first 24 free schools in the country in 2011 and then known as Kings Science Academy, the school was visited and hailed by the Prime Minister, David Cameron.
But described recently in local media reports as a “troubled free school” its takeover was reportedly preceded by a difficult 18 months in which its founder and principal Sajid Husain Raza was charged with fraud.
New head teacher Neil Miley was commended by Ofsted for making a “rapid start” in his first five months, and he said at the time: “Dixons wants to make sure that children in Bradford get the best possible education.”
This article will be updated shortly