14-year-old jailed for 28 years for murdering teacher

A 14-year-old boy has been sentenced to 28 years in prison without parole for murdering his favourite teacher.

Nathaniel Brazill will be 42 when he is freed from the sentence for shooting and killing English teacher Barry Grunow in Florida in May 2000, when he was just 13.

The 14-year-old was not allowed to hug his mother as he was led away from the courtroom in West Palm Beach to begin his 28-year sentence.

He was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Mr Grunow, a 35-year-old father-of-two, last month after being tried as an adult for the killing.

The teenager had never denied shooting the teacher, but claimed it was an accident and Mr Grunow had been his favourite teacher at the school, Lake Worth Middle School in West Palm Beach.

The teacher's family had told the court Brazill was a danger to society and called for the teenager to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Under Florida's zero-tolerance laws, Brazill had been tried in an adult court despite his age because of the severity of the crime.

The teenager showed no emotion as Judge Richard Wennet read out his sentence, which will be followed by two years under house arrest and five years in probation, as well as anger management classes.

But outside the court his mother, Polly Powell, said: "I am pleased one day my son will come home."

Brazill apologised on Thursday for the killing in his first expression of remorse.