Bright teenager gave no hint of his murderous intentions

People who knew Will Cornick say there was nothing in his background to suggest he would go on to murder his Spanish teacher Ann Maguire.

Fellow pupils at Corpus Christ Catholic College said he was a bright student, albeit "quiet" and "a bit weird".

Yet the court heard how he developed a deep and irrational hatred for Mrs Maguire, that would eventually end in tragedy.

He told one friend of her "being killed in unpleasant circumstances" and another that he had been carrying a knife.

ITV News Correspondent Paul Davies reports:

Police found many pictures of knives on his mobile phone, but there was nothing to suggest his violent motives.

Pupils spoke of his "top grades" at school and of how he liked to play computer games.

One 16-year-old girl said he rarely spoke and many of his contemporaries thought he was "a bit weird".

The court heard how Cornick appears to have come from a loving and stable home, with responsible parents.

"This is not one of those cases in which a defendant's actions may find a degree of explanation in his family circumstances," Prosecutor Paul Greaney QC said.

Although his parents divorced when he was young, they "worked hard to maintain a loving relationship" with the boy.

Cornick consistenly achieved good grades and was rarely in any sort of trouble at school.

And yet a few incidents in the months leading up to the murder hint at the slow-burning hatred he felt towards Mrs Maguire.

Last Christmas, four months before the killing, he messaged a friend on Facebook talking of the "brutal killing" of his teacher.

Two months later, Mrs Maguire banned him from going on a school trip for failing to do his homework but he went anyway.

At a subsequent disciplinary meeting, the teenager walked out and was disrespectful, the court heard. His parents were called to school and, according to the boy's father, he made plain "that he hated Mrs Maguire".

In April of this year, Cornick stabbed his teacher to death.

He has admitted the murder and was today sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years.