KNIFE CRIME: Boy, nine, has knife held to his throat at school

Sacheen Leigh, who lives in Clayton-le-Woods near Chorley, was horrified when her son Ethan, who was nine at the time, came home from primary school to tell her he’d had a knife held to his neck by another boy.

Sacheen, who is a healthcare assistant and student nurse, ended up removing her son from the school after the incident last summer.

Sacheen, who is married to Damian and has seven children of whom Ethan is the youngest, says: “I went to collect Ethan from school and the headteacher came over and told me that there had been an incident at lunchtime and it was nothing to worry about as it had been dealt with.

“There was no mention of a knife so I thought nothing of it and we drove home.”

However, when they got home, Ethan told his mum he and a friend, who were both in Year Five, had gone to play on the school field when a Year 6 boy told them to go away.

Sacheen says: “Ethan asked why and pulled a face and Ethan and his friend walked off and then suddenly his friend started running.

“The boy grabbed Ethan and pulled him to the ground and held a knife to his neck and told him he was going to stab him.

“Ethan told me he managed to get the other boy off him and went straight to the headteacher’s office.

“I was absolutely fuming when Ethan told me the full story and couldn’t believe the headteacher had dismissed it as nothing to me and not mentioned it involved a knife.

“I was so angry, I reported the incident to the police and discovered it had not already been reported to them.

“I wrote to the school governors and informed the education authority.

“Eventually, I got a letter from the headteacher saying maybe she could have done more. But it was too little too late.

“I think schools need to do more to tackle knife crime.

“Schools have a duty to make sure all their pupils are safe and need to make sure pupils are not bringing weapons such as knives into school.

“The boy who threatened Ethan with a knife was only excluded after I had written to the governors and the police had been in.

“To me, that sends out the wrong message.”

Karen Marshall, headteacher at Manor Road Primary School, said: “An incident took place last year at school which was dealt with quickly and safely and reported to the police.

“I spoke to the parent on the same afternoon that this took place to make her aware of what had happened and the incident itself.

“Events like this are extremely rare in our school and are taken very seriously.

”The safety and security of our pupils is paramount and I’d like to reassure parents that we do not tolerate this type of behaviour.”