Boy, 14, stabbed to death in school row

AN English teenager was in police custody last night following the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old boy during a fight at a secondary school.

The victim, named locally as Luke Walmsley, was stabbed at Birkbeck School in North Somercotes, near Louth, Lincolnshire, around 10am.

He was rushed to Grimsby Hospital by air ambulance but was later pronounced dead, Lincolnshire Police said.

A 15-year-old fellow pupil was arrested and taken to Skegness police station where he was last night awaiting questioning.

David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said the incident would “send shockwaves” through the school system.

The fight is thought to have started in a corridor. The school was closed immediately and all 276 pupils sent home, many in a state of shock.

Last night a small number of children were gathered outside the school as police officers began their investigation into what is being treated as a “suspicious death”.

Lincolnshire County Council spokesman Steve Bishop described the stabbing as a “shocking incident” and said it was a “traumatic time” for the school’s staff, its pupils and their parents and confirmed the school would remain closed today. Staff had been offered counselling, he added.

The area where the stabbing took place has now been sealed off while police carry out forensic investigations.

A post-mortem was being carried out last night by a Home Office pathologist at Grimsby Hospital.

Police were expected to officially identify the boy today.