Two 14-year-old boys planned to kill pupils and teachers at their school in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, after becoming obsessed with the 1999 Columbine massacre, a court has heard. The teenagers, now 15, allegedly intended to carry out a 're-enactment' of the US school shooting, using firearms and explosives.
Paul Greaney QC, prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court, told jurors the boys researched bomb-making techniques and began building a stockpile of weapons before being arrested by counter-terrorism police in October last year. The older boy, described as the ringleader, wrote in his diary about planning 'one of the worst atrocities in British history' and said: 'Fuck, I hate my school. I will obliterate it. I will kill everyone.'
The court heard the older boy hero-worshipped Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, dressing like Harris in a trench coat and referencing him on Instagram. He also expressed admiration for Charles Manson and carved his name into his 14-year-old girlfriend's back with a penknife. When her parents stopped contact, he wrote about torturing them and stealing her father's shotguns to 'begin our assault on that fucking school'.
The younger boy drew up a hitlist of pupils and teachers, and in a text exchange told his co-accused: 'I can't be bothered any more.' The older boy replied: 'Why not take some others out as well? If you're gonna kill yourself, shoot up the school.' The plot unravelled in September when the younger boy confessed to a deputy headteacher, but the older boy denied everything and they were not arrested until after a later incident.
Both boys, who cannot be named due to their age, sat beside their mothers and security officers as their trial began on Thursday. They deny conspiracy to murder. The trial continues.
