Teacher Not Guilty Of Attempted Murder.

[OrcadianOil]

Teacher Peter Harvey cleared of attempted murder and causing GBH with intent, has been Bailed to return to Court next month.

A victory for common sense? OR Justice denied?

Personally, I subscribe to the former, it appears as though this man simply "snapped" in the heat of the moment against a pupil who apparently had been the ring leader in a campaign of total disobedience and rebellion towards this teacher and authority in general.
No doubt, the "wets" will bleat and disagree? Let's hear you all.
http://news.bbc.co.uk...ghamshire/8652243.stm

[bobjugs12]

Something that only men have that sounds like botox

[mike11111]

Can't be buttocks then!

[saxy_jag]

I'm 'wet' then, because whether the kid concerned was an annoying little g*****te or not, that's no excuse. Other people 'snap', other people attack their tormentors (jeez, I've felt like flooring a certain person myself on many an occasion), and they get punished for it.

Plenty of teachers have to face the fact that they can't cope with the stress of the job. They don't usually attack their charges with heavy objects, though. They do at least have that degree of self-control. If this teacher couldn't do his job properly then he shouldn't have been in the classroom, and he shouldn't be held up as some kind of hero.

[Zeuhl]

///Zeuhl don't tell me you feel sorry for the little s**tbag. ///

I won't!

I have no issue at all when parents entrust the care of their children to a school and are told later that because the child was misbehaving in class they have had their skull fractured by a 50 year old man armed with a heavy weight having a mental breakdown.

I'm sure you agree, it sounds like an ideal way to educate our young people. Perhaps we should extend this idea and put more paedos into classrooms, they could have a bit of fun with the kids before they smack them over the head - what do you think smurfchops?

[bobjugs12]

Maybe if the kids parents had taught the little sod some respect and brought him up properly instead of draging him up this never would have happened.

[NoMercy]

Zeuhl... Yes, children have a right to go to school and be safe from harm - but so too do the teachers whose thankless task it is to educate today's feral youth.

I'm not condoning violence, but there were mitigating circumstances in this case. People can only tolerate so much.

[smurfchops]

This young person didn't want to be educated, just wanted to cause trouble. Him and his mates were all goading the teacher, I agree the teacher wasn't well and maybe wasn't up to the job, but this so called child had no intention of learning anything, just making trouble. It's about time people stood up for themselves instead of being afraid of touching so-called children at school, kids literally get away with murder these days.

[sara3]

my 13 yr old son can be a pain in the @rse at school (not to this extent!), but if a teacher smashed his head in with a dumbbell, I wouldn't call that acceptable.

[fredpuli47]

OrcadianOil, is your view that the man shouldn't have been charged with those offences, or are you just applauding the jury system ?

It seems a reasonable verdict.

The s18 gbh with intent was clearly triable , the attempted murder was not clearly so, and it added nothing. The only evidence for it was his saying 'die,die,die'.Presumably, given that, the prosecution thought the count worth including, but they surely can't have had much expectation of getting home on it..

. The proof of intent to kill in such a case is usually a non-starter. Juries aren't likely to attach much weight to angry words such as 'Die, die, die' as proof of intent to kill. The intent in the s18 gbh with intent gbh rested primarily on the severity of the attack and the implement used. The s18 was definitely triable, for the jury to decide what intent the defendant had. An angry or provoked man's intent is still an intent, after all ! But it's no surprise that the jury found they couldn't be sure that he had the specific intent to cause the really serious bodily injury at the very moment he inflicted it. He did cause such injury but that does not, in itself, prove an intent to cause it.

[bobjugs12]

Ok then, lets look at this another way. Is mental health as important as physical health?
If so then surely what the boy and the class were doing was an assault. So if the kid had been punching him and he'd reacted this way would that be different?

[saxy_jag]

Maybe not, Jugs, but that's not the kid's fault, and still no excuse for what the guy did. I truly hope that he's now retired from his job on health grounds and made to undergo psychiatric treatment, because I really wouldn't like to see him around my grandson ten years from now.

[saxy_jag]

Sorry Jugs - was responding to your 18:07 post there.

[merciasounds]

I agree with the majority here - a victory for common sense.

[askyourgran]

I can't think of a worst job being a schoolteacher in this day and age, some of the kids are bigger than the teachers, some of them think they can get away with that sort of thing all the time. I'm sorry the teacher had to resort to that. I would have gone for the kids shallots.

[OrcadianOil]

fredpuli,
The CPS appear to have had little choice but to prefer the charges they did: i.e. there were the ingredients there, technically, for both offences. And as you would appreciate, the only way to then test those charges is in a Court of Law.

I'm applauding the jury's verdict and it appears that every facet of the evidence was considered before reaching their conclusion. Their advantage, of course, is that they got to hear all the evidence, most of us had to rely on media reports to form an opinion. Mine is based not only on those reports but previous experience in the criminal justice system, and I must admit that when I heard, saw and read the various reports about it, I have to say that I was hoping he would be cleared.

Those who disagree with the verdict must have a very black and white view of things. Let's hope none of them find themselves in any vaguely similar situation where they act completely out of character because of desperation over a system which has irretrievably broken down and we have pupil power instead of teacher discipline. Had we had any of the latter in the first place, this greatly experienced and dedicated teacher would most probably never have been driven to the extreme actions caused by a totally failed system which only emboldens the sort of cretins who brought this man to the brink.

[andres]

My daughter is a teacher(11-16years old) .Thankfully she is a dominant person, capable of holding her own in the classroom. But some of the other teachers have a miserable time . There seems to be a lack of respect from some of the pupils;they have no interest in learning and delight in disrupting the rest of the kids who do want to learn. It's difficult enough controlling classes of 30 or more pupils when you have insolent, rowdy kids constantly determined to upset the class. Try clouting them and you are for it . Call their parents in and more often than not the teacher will end up being threatened. God knows what teachers are supposed to do !!! Perhaps if parents would accept the fact that sometimes their 'little ray of sunshine ' could be an evil little brat and deal with them accordingly this country would be a better place. Respect for other people should be one of the things that parents teach their children.The teacher in question should have had the sense to walk away from the situation and report the matter to a senior master. But as we all know ---sometimes our emotions take over and we react totally out of character. The boy ,apparently the ringleader in the class should be thoroughly ashamed of his behaviour which led up to this incident .I think he should have been named and shamed.Let's stop pussyfooting around .

[sandyRoe]

Will the teenager have grounds for a compensation claim?

[modeller]

As an ex -teacher I can honestly say I've never met the parent of a young thug who didn't think their child was an angel. Couple that with the fact that any classroom teacher who applies discipline is rarely backed by the management and you have recipe for trouble.

[beso]

All Saints School.
The kid got off lightly. The Bible says that disobedient children should be stoned to death.

[chrissa1]

What I couldn't understand was why he was kept in custody for the last eight months? He was obviously no threat to the general public. He just snapped, and having taught 10 - 11 year olds at the beginning of the 70's and then takinga break until the mid eighties to have my children, I saw the change in the attitudes and behaviour of children just in that short time then. I am glad the jury saw sense but feel very sorry for the poor man.