Teacher Ann Maguire's Murder

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2616326/Boy-suspects-mother-holiday-Gran-Canaria-Further-details-emerge-teenager-accused-stabbing-teacher.html

The more one reads of this tragic case, the worse it gets.

Imagine this poor mother away enjoying herself on holiday and then hearing the tragic news that her son had allegedly killed his teacher?

[factor-fiction]

AOG said "Or perhaps if the schools did not punish the parents who take their kids on holidays out of term time, he would have been in Gran Canaria?"

I don't understand the logic there.

[dunnitall]

In hindsight then, pity the suicide attempt didn't work, this lady might still have been alive if it had!

[ummmm]

Golly....I'm going on holiday this month leaving my 15 year old son at home, I hope he doesn't stab anyone!!

[Peter Pedant]

A former pupil at the school, who knew the boy's 19-year-old brother, said: 'His mum was away on holiday and his brother was taking care of the house.

as AOG said: Imagine this poor mother away enjoying herself on holiday and then hearing the tragic news that her son had allegedly killed his teacher?

and then learning that it is a criminal offence to leave a 15 y o in these circumstances without ensuring adequate care and supervision

yeah indeed AOG poor mother.

[anneasquith]

i would not leave a 15year old alone whist I went on holiday abroad.

[Prudie]

Who's left a 15 year old alone while they went on holiday?

[Jomlett]

LATEST:Man who admitted posting offensive tweets about stabbed Leeds teacher Ann Maguire is jailed for 8 weeks.

[boxtops]

I don't understand why you are expecting us to sympathise with the mother, AOG - she shouldn't have cleared off on holiday leaving him in the control of another teenager. I note that nobody's commentating about the "poor father".

[ummmm]

Do we know anything about this family to be passing judgement? At 15 he's old enough to know right from wrong and I doubt his mother being at home would have made a difference.

[New Judge]

No we don’t know much about the family’s life, but the mother has no sympathy from me.

She has two sons aged 19 and 15 whose father is absent. The younger of the two clearly had problems before he allegedly put a knife into his teacher:

“Pupils said the boy had become increasingly withdrawn in recent months.”
“…he had few friends at the school.”
“He allegedly said he wanted to kill himself because of bullying…”
“Classmates said the boy had started to go into school with beer or whisky in recent months” (despite, apparently having no money for food on occasions).
“Chloe Ripley, 16, said he was ‘weird and lonely’”

Now of course his mother may have known none of this. However, I cannot imagine my parents leaving me at home when I was 15 with or without a nineteen year old brother. (In fact I suspect they would have considered that with an older brother - scarcely of an age where parental responsibility has set in - I’d be in even greater peril).

Sorry, but the boy’s mother was irresponsible in the extreme to leave a clearly troubled child (clearly troubled to many others, at least) at home whilst she set off for the sun.

The is only victims here are Mrs Maguire and her family. The boy is not a victim. After a brief period of “rehabilitation” he will be released and have the full panoply of social services at his disposal. His mother most certainly is not. Single parents have to work twice as hard to ensure the welfare of their children and that task does not end when they start secondary school. She should have been at home with the boy to help him through his troubles. But reading between the lines it may well be that her lack of attention to his well being might possibly have been the cause of them.

I will comment on the absent father. He has obviously abandoned his first marriage and the resultant children and opted, as many fathers do, to “start a new life”. Alas his children don’t have that option - they have to carry on with the only one they have. Seeing his father with a new (presumably younger) woman and a new step-sibling might not have driven the boy to murder, but I cannot imagine it helped to stabilise him too much either.

[anneasquith]

i agree this boy has two parents,,,,,,,,,,,,both of them have responsibility re his behaviour/altered character.

[ummmm]

You are correct, she may have not known any of this. Teenagers regularly keep things secret from their parents. Look at the amount of suicide and self harming that goes on without parents knowledge. Many parents are guilty of just thinking their child is just a sulky teenager.

The article says the dad left them with nothing but yet the mother is a human resources manager!!

You know...if I offered my 15 year old to come on holiday with us...it would be a no thanks.

[New Judge]

Yes, but would you leave him and his 19 year old brother alone? I most certainly would not. When I was 15 I was not given the option of saying "no thanks" to the family holiday.