THE JURY has retired to consider whether two teenagers are guilty of conspiring or encouraging each other to carry out a Columbine-inspired attack at a school in Northallerton.

The defendants, both 15, deny conspiracy to murder teachers and students, as well as a charge of intentionally encouraging or assisting each other to carry out murders.

The older boy also denies aggravated burglary and unlawful wounding.

The jury of seven women and five men retired at 12.37pm at Leeds Crown Court after the judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb summed up the evidence for them. 
She told the jury: “The prosecution wants you to step back and look over all the incidents and conclude that with the evidence shown the defendants were deadly serious and wanted to replicate an infamous school massacre. 
“The prime prosecution case is they plotted to murder. No-one was going to take them seriously - that was part of the problem with the school. They were not in a rush and there was no date to carry out the attack and as far as they could they took care to put their plans into effect.”

Mrs Cheema-Grubb said the defence's argument maintained the evidence showed “no more than these were two disaffected boys who were unhappy at school” and determined to get their own back on people who had bullied them. 

She mentioned the alleged hit list of children and teachers which had been shared by the younger teenager, adding: “A list of names of students and teachers they had problems with, but that would not be unusual in a school where students think they are not being looked after by their teachers.”