Schoolboy murderer sentenced to life

A 16-year-old British schoolboy was sentenced to life imprisonment last night for murdering a fellow pupil outside a classroom.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, knifed Luke Walmsley, 14, through the heart at Birkbeck Secondary School in North Somercotes, Lincolnshire.

The two-week trial heard that the teenage attacker disliked Luke, and delivered a forceful and deliberate blow to his chest with a flick-knife on November 4 last year.

A judge recommended the teen serve a minimum of 12 years.

Paul and Jayne Walmsley watched in tears as their son's final steps, captured on closed circuit television, were played to the court.

The court was told that the attacker had armed himself with the knife and threatened another pupil with the weapon earlier that day.

In the weeks leading up to the attack he had told other students he intended to stab the sports-mad teenager.