Police called after boy takes knife into Darlington primary school

Officers were called to a Darlington school after they were informed a ten-year-old boy had been carrying a concealed butter knife.

A nine-year-old boy, who was in the class, told his family he feared the knife would be used to hurt him because he had assaulted the boy previously by stabbing him with a pencil.

Read more: How the death of a County Durham teenager has shaped Labour's knife crime policy

The boy told his family about the incident that evening but his grandmother said the school did not contact them about it straight away.

She said: “We did not know if it was a sharp knife or not.

“All night. all we were thinking of was what could have happened.

“We were thinking ‘what if for a split second that kid didn’t think?’

“What if my grandson wasn’t here to tell us about what had happened? I cannot get my head around it.”

The Northern Echo is campaigning to raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime following a spate of shocking fatal stabbings among young people.  

The grandmother said the class where the incident happened is for youngsters with special education needs.

She added: “These kids do have problems but my grandson could not get over the fact that he took a knife to school.

“I am very aware of the dangers and it is a horrible thought that this kid is 10-years-old.

“It is a scary thought.”

The Northern Echo understands the knife was confiscated and the boy’s parents were contacted along with the police.

The incident happened last Tuesday and the grandmother said she was only told when she asked about it the following day but other parents of children in the class were not informed until a statement was issued later last week.

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The letter from the school, which has been seen by The Northern Echo, said: “You may be aware that a child brought a knife into school earlier in the week.

“I would like to reassure you all that no direct threat was made to any of our children.

“The incident was dealt with extremely quickly and efficiently by our staff and, at no point did we feel that your child was in any danger.

“The police were informed and have taken steps to ensure that the child in question is fully aware of the consequences of carrying a knife.

“We plan to work with the officers in the near future in order to minimise the risk of this happening again.”

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Durham Constabulary has been contacted for further information about how the issued is being dealt with.

A Darlington Borough Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the incident in question and have been liaising with the school to understand the full circumstances.”

The school said: "Once it was identified that there was a concealed knife in school, staff acted quickly to remove it.

"The incident was dealt with extremely quickly and efficiently by staff.

"The knife remained concealed at all times.

"At no point did we feel that any children were in danger.

"With regard to the way this incident was communicated to families, we followed advice from police in this matter.

"We plan to work with officers in the future to minimise the risk of this happening again.”