Judge in schoolboy murder case: Why I allowed Will Cornick to be named
The High Court judge who ruled that Will Cornick could be named after he admitted murdering teacher Ann Maguire has explained why he lifted the ban on identifying the 16-year-old.
Hitting out at "ill-informed commentators" who have criticised his decision, Mr Justice Coulson said in a written judgment today that naming Cornick will have a "a clear deterrent effect".
The judge said that he had to balance Cornick's future welfare with the public's right to have important court cases freely and fully reported.
"I found the arguments finely balanced. But in the end I came down firmly on the side of the public interest," he concluded.
The judge rejected arguments by Cornick's lawyer who argued that the 16-year-old should not be named due to the immediate threat to his life.
Mr Justice Coulson today pointed out that the teenager is already on 24-hour suicide watch in custody due to comments he made about killing himself in the run-up to the murder.
He said that he is also "not persuaded" that lifting the ban on anonymity for the killer would affect his family's attempts to rehabilitate and reform him.
"It is quite plain to me that his parents have been wonderfully supportive of him throughout this ordeal and will continue to be so, whether he is identified or not," the judge said.
Mr Justice Coulson said that discussions on Cornick's rehabilitation must be considered in light of the fact the teenager still expresses pride in the murder - and he did not believe that granting him anonymity would accelerate this process.
"That is one of the reasons why the psychiatrists were of the unanimous view that he was so dangerous," he said.