PIMLICO ACADEMY SCHOOLBOY IS STABBED IN THE BACK

The headteacher of a Pimlico secondary school is calling for police to increase security patrols in the area after a 15-year-old pupil was stabbed in the back during his lunch-break. 

The pupil at Pimlico Academy, who has not been named, was leaving a supermarket in Tachbrook Street with a group of friends after getting his lunch when he was attacked in broad daylight last Thursday.

He remains in hospital, where his condition is said to be stable.

Jerry Collins said police should consider erecting knife arches outside the Underground station after he admitted some staff and ­parents felt the streets around the school were unsafe.

He ruled out a ban on pupils leaving the school for lunch, saying it would be alarmist and would send out the wrong message to ­parents, despite speculation that the victim may have been targeted by a pupil from a rival school because of his uniform.

While there were dozens of people in the busy market street when the attack happened outside the Euro Foods supermarket, witnesses have been slow in coming forward, hampering the police investigation. The incident was not captured on CCTV and no one has been charged.

Mr Collins, who has been headteacher at the school in Lupus Street since it became an academy in September 2008, said: “It is business as usual as far as the school is concerned. This incident happened outside of school and we do feel there is an issue with safety in the local area.

“We have measures at the school to ensure knives do not come in and would not consider knife arches because personally I think they stigmatise young people. Perhaps the police should look at putting arches outside the Tube and upping the number of officers in the area, because some people feel the area is unsafe.

“There has not been any incident with a pupil at the school in my time here. We told all Year 11 pupils that parents could come to us if they had concerns about what happened and we will continue to help the police with their inquiries.”

Mr Collins has been to hospital to visit the pupil who lives in south London and is said to be on course for a clutch of A* grades when he sits his GCSEs in the summer.

Only Year 11 and sixth-form pupils are allowed out of school to get lunch. The group of boys who were with the victim at the time, described as “not trouble­makers”, were kept inside the school as a precautionary measure in the aftermath of the attack, but have since been told they may go out.

The detective leading the investigation, Alexis Boon, said he had recovered a weapon near to the scene.

He said he was aware of CCTV footage from the shop showing two youths, one of whom appears to be dressed in school uniform, running away from the scene, but that it was not enough to make a direct link to the crime.

He said: “At this point in time we have an open mind about the cause. It could be an argument boiling over, it could be linked to gang activity. We are looking for one person who we believe to be a similar age to the victim. 

“There is actually a lot of CCTV around the area, but unfortunately at this stage we don’t think the incident itself was captured. We couldn’t have asked for a better response from the school. They have been very co-operative with us, as have the family of the victim. The boy has a good family.” 

He confirmed that he would be calling extra uniform officers to the area.

Police were called to reports of the incident at 1.15pm by a neighbour, who helped stem the bleeding with tea towels before the ambulance service arrived.

Anyone with any information should call police on 020 7321 9314 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Three youths, aged 17, 16 and 15, were arrested and bailed pending further inquiries.
JAMIE WELHAM