A report has revealed that a 13-year-old girl who stabbed three people at her school in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, had been considered for the government's anti-terror programme Prevent due to her fascination with Adolf Hitler and weapons. The teenager, known as Child A, harboured an interest in war memorabilia and the Nazi dictator, and claimed to speak German and Russian.
After she was found with a knife at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, a referral to Prevent was discussed but not pursued. The girl later armed herself with her father's multi-tool and attacked teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin, and a pupil, in April last year. Upon arrest, she told police: “That’s one way to be a celebrity.”
The multi-agency report, commissioned by Carmarthenshire County Council and Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Board, examined the two years before the incident. It found that although a lot of information was known about Child A, it was not shared between agencies. The report author, Gladys Rhodes White, noted that Child A was seen as “quirky” and “not quite fitting in”.
Following the first knife possession incident, an early help assessment was offered but declined by the father. The report said that had this assessment occurred, “this may have been a pathway through which agencies could consider alternative help”. The girl had previously taken a ball bearing gun to a previous school and later threatened a pupil with a knife at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.
On the day of the attacks, pupils knew she had a knife but did not inform teachers. The girl’s father felt “services” had let them down, saying: “He feels it is only since her conviction that she has started to receive help.” The girl, now 15, was sentenced in April to 15 years detention for attempted murder. The report concluded that no agency could have foreseen the attack, but called for more effective information-sharing.
