Onus 'shouldn't have been on dad' to check for schoolgirl's knife

The onus to do a daily check for knives in the bag of a 14-year-old girl convicted of attempted murder should not have been put on her father, Plaid Cymru's education spokesperson has said.

The teenager, who cannot be named, was found guilty of the attempted murder of three people after the attack at a school in Carmarthenshire in April last year.

Cefin Campbell MS, whose brother works at the school and tried to restrain the girl, said searching pupils and employing security guards were options for schools to consider.

"I don't think the onus should have been put on the father to check the bag every day," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

Campbell also called for "better collaboration in the information shared between social services and school leaders".

He said "clearly the person was a troubled individual, that came out in court. We need to ask about support for mental health issues".

The teenager was found guilty of the attempted murder of teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin and a pupil at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in April 2024.

They were all taken to hospital after the attack.

Campbell said while he did not really know what the answer was, it needed careful attention because knife crime and violence against teachers had increased since the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said "searching pupils is one solution" to prevent such an incident from happening again but he questioned "whether teachers want to play that role of playing security guard as well as being teachers".

He warned this could lead to confrontations and said another option might be for schools to employ "specialist security guards".

Campbell said "teachers shouldn't feel threatened in any way", adding teaching unions needed to be consulted on any plans to ask teachers to check bags.

"What we don't want to do is to go down the road of some American states and cities where there are scanners and body scanners for everyone going into school every day metal detectors," he said.

He said pupils as young as year two - aged six and seven - carrying knives was "an extremely sad indictment of our society and I have no doubt that social media plays a part in this as well".

Steve Mitchell, who is a supply teacher in Rhondda Cynon Taf and a representative of the National Educational Union Cymru, had a knife pulled on him by a pupil in class a few years ago.

He said security in schools would "no doubt help" but questioned how it would be paid for.

"Schools are so tight for money....they can't even afford to replace teachers," he said.

He added: "The threat of violence in some schools is always there and it's the pressure that the teachers are under not knowing if they're going to come out of a lesson safely and that is why they're looking for other jobs."

Existing Welsh government legislation says "reasonable force" may be used without pupils' consent to search for weapons.

Cefin Campbell said he had spoken to his brother, Darren, who said there was "a general sense of relief among the teaching staff and the school community" that the trial had come to an end and this had brought "a sense of closure".

"No one expected a 14-year-old girl to come into school with the intent of causing harm and attempted murder," he added.

He warned it could happen anywhere and "the sense of fear among teaching staff is still very real".

Swansea Crown Court heard the teenager had brought a weapon to school every day, and on the day in question, used her father's multi-tool knife to initially attack Ms Elias.

She shouted "I'm going to kill you" as she stabbed Ms Elias, the jury heard, before turning to Ms Hopkin, who she did not know.

Both teachers said in police interviews they thought they would die as they were stabbed.

After what was described as a "stand-off", the jury heard the teenager then moved to a different part of the school where she ran towards a pupil with a knife and shouted, "I'm going to kill you".

The pupil was stabbed before the teenage girl was restrained by teacher Darrel Campbell, and she was later arrested.

The defendant is due to be sentenced on 28 April.

Additional reporting by Antonia Matthews