UK student receives 6-year sentence for planned school shooting spree

It is not only the U.S. that sees the potential of school shootings. An unidentified 15-year-old boy took a double-barreled shotgun into the Higham Lane School in Nuneaton in the U.K. on June 13, intending to do some serious damage to his schoolmates. He was fortunately talked down from his plans by an emergency dispatch operator, which has now led to him on Friday receiving a six-year sentence for his crime at the Warwick Crown Court.

The teen will spend at least half his sentence behind bars and the remainder on license.

Teenager plans shooting spree at his school

As reported by the Nuneaton News, the 15-year-old, who had allegedly been bullied at the school, took a double-barreled shotgun from a secure cabinet in the home of one of his family members. He also took 200 cartridges and a knife. He then headed to Higham Lane School in Nuneaton, fully prepared to launch a deadly attack.

The teenager was reportedly just second away from opening fire on his fellow students when he made a call to the police. An emergency call handler then “averted disaster” by convincing the teen to disassemble his weapon, while officers headed to the scene.

The school was placed on lockdown at approximately 9:15 a.m., while the police took the teenager into custody.

The International Business Times quotes Judge Andrew Lockhart QC of the Warwick Crown Court as saying the teenager had been a moment away from committing a heinous crime. The judge spoke to the teenager, saying he had his face covered, a knife and shotgun in hand and was preparing to shoot at anyone in the school. Lockhart said that anyone who would have been his target would have been a “wholly innocent victim.”

Impossible to predict how many would have been shot

The judge went on to tell the teenager that if he had opened fire, he had no doubt death and serious injury would have occurred, while saying it was impossible for him to predict how many victims would have been affected.

Lockhart said only a “moment in time” had separated both students and school staff from being a victim of a “terrible event” and a crime that would have been added to the history of wicked crimes committed in the U.K.

Lockhart went on to praise the emergency call handler who talked the teenager down from his plans, saying his actions had been "exemplary." The judge added that the call handler acted in such a way that a potential disaster was averted.

Defense said incident caused by ‘loss of good sense’

In the teenager’s defense, Delroy Henry said that the boy’s plans to launch a Shooting Spree resulted from a "loss of good sense," adding that a prison term would not benefit his mental health. He added that the teenager had ultimately cooperated with police and taken the decision not to proceed.

Fellow students at Higham Lane School claimed at the time that the teenager had been the subject of bullying and believed this may be why he made the decision to bring a shotgun into the school. The teen is receiving mental health treatment to aid in his rehabilitation.

The 15-year-old will serve at least half of his six-year sentence in jail, followed by release on license for the remainder of his sentence. According to the Offenders’ Families Helpline, this means the teen must adhere to certain rules and will not be allowed to travel outside of the U.K.