A BABY-FACED schoolboy with a morbid fascination to kill, convicted of attempting to murder a fellow pupil in a school corridor, received an extended 12 year sentence of detention today (Thursday, January 30) in order to protect the public.

It means the 16-year-old has an eight-year detention sentence with a four-year licence extension under which he could be re-called if there were any further concerns.

But he will only be released when the Parole Board considers he is safe.

Judge Rhys Rowlands, sitting at Mold Crown Court, described it was "a deeply worrying case" and said that it was only by sheer good luck that he had not killed the other boy when he stabbed him to the shoulder as he walked from a music lesson at Eirias High School in Colwyn Bay.

The defendant - who cannot be publicly identified because of his age - went through the trauma of his mother dying in front of him when he was aged just ten.

He was said to be "numb", harboured thoughts of killing someone including a member of his own family and in the lead-up to the school attack beat a lamb to death then drowned it - and also stabbed a cow.

Judge Rowlands said that he had absolutely no doubt that he posed "a significant risk of serious harm" to members of the public.

"Regrettably I have come to the conclusion that you are a dangerous offender," said the judge.

"I am driven to the view that you remain a very troubled young man who has harboured thoughts of harming, indeed of killing someone, thoughts you acted upon that morning in February of last year."

Aged 15, the defendant aimed for his victim's neck in a random knife attack.

But fortunately he missed and stabbed him in the shoulder instead.

The victim continued to walk as a CCTV chillingly showed the defendant walking up the corridor re-opening his knife "to finish him off."

Luckily, the victim arrived at his classroom and the attacker thought better of it, later saying he did not want to kill the boy in front of classmates.

He admitted that he had stabbed the boy and pleaded guilty to wounding with intent.

But, he denied attempted murder and a jury took just 48 minutes to unanimously convict him last October.

He admitted two charges of taking an orange-handled lock knife decorated with human skulls to school on two occasions.

The boy, who showed no emotion as he was sentenced, had written a personal letter to the judge in which he said that he was now more mature and in a much better place mentally - and he asked for a chance

He had no previous convictions and the judge warned that if he was an adult, the starting point for sentence would be 15 years but could go up to 20.

He made a ten-year restraining order under which he is not to approach the victim or attend the school.

The judge said he had come into possession of the knife measuring some 20 centimetres some weeks before the attack and he had been experimenting by harming farm animals.

He had describing beating a lamb and drowning it, which had taken several minutes, and stabbing a cow to the neck with a kitchen knife.

Judge Rowlands said that it was worrying that "you took pleasure in inflicting pain" on harmless animals.

The Friday before the attack, he took a bottle of whisky and the knife to school and had been recorded on a phone waving it around.

The judge said it appeared as though he wanted to "look big".

On the day of the attack he stole a bottle of whisky, took it to school again carrying the knife, misbehaved and was asked to leave.

That, the judge said, while waiting for the deputy head he told another pupil that he wanted to stab a teacher.

The deputy head found the stolen bottle but not the knife and told him to wait outside the office, while she spoke to the head.

"That was a loss of face on your part," he said.

It was then a fellow pupil, not known to him, walked from a music lesson.

"You decided to take your frustrations out on him although he had done nothing at all to you and presented absolutely no threat to you," the judge told him.

"You took out the knife and went after him, having decided he was the person you were hoping to kill."

As he admitted afterwards, his intention was to stab him to the neck.

In the event he moved forward, the defendant missed and the blow landed to his left shoulder.

The victim carried on towards his classroom and the defendant set off after him "to finish him off."

But the victim turned into a classroom where there were other pupils and a teacher.

A psychiatrist who examined him within hours concluded he did not suffer from mental illness, but was a quite bright lad with no empathy or remorse over what he had done.

The boy told the psychiatrist that he had wanted to kill someone for some time.

Judge Rowlands said that the alcohol he had taken may have given him Dutch courage.

Schools were meant to be safe environments where parents trusted that their children were going to be safe.

But the victim, only 15 at the time, was stabbed to the shoulder from behind without any real warning.

If the defendant had not missed, and had the victim not reached the safety of the classroom, there could have been fatal consequences.

It had clearly been his intention to kill the other young boy.

"That is why he aimed for the neck," he said.

Judge Rowlands said that it was clear that at the age of ten the defendant had gone through a terrible ordeal.

He had to deal with the tragic loss of his mother.

He suffered post traumatic stress disorder and depression, although his behaviour was affected by the harmful use of alcohol and cannabis.

Defending barrister Sion ap Mihangel conceded that there had been an element of planning.

The defendant and his sister had written to the court, which also had two psychiatric reports and a detailed pre-sentence report.

He was still very young, was vulnerable himself struggling with his emotional health, but there was time for him to develop and properly mature.

No firm assessment of his character and personality could properly be done at the present time. "Only time will tell," he said.

The death of his mother when he was ten, dying in front of him, clearly had a traumatic effect upon him.

That was a catalyst for what was described as a numb feeling.

He had not developed in the normal way and had not come to terms with her death.

In custody, he was working in a laundry and was seeing the mental health team once or twice a week, which was helping him to manage his anxiety and stress.