Boy convicted of school knife attack was radicalised online, father says

Summarised from BBC Norfolk's report · Updated 27 Oct, 06:57 · Archive

A teenager convicted of attempted murder in a school knife attack was radicalised by extreme online material, his father has said.

A 16-year-old boy was found guilty of attempted murder last week after stabbing a fellow pupil at Thorpe St Andrew School near Norwich on 11 March. The trial heard he harboured a hatred of women, had a fascination with serial killers and had planned to target others in the attack. A 15-year-old girl was injured in the incident.

The boy's father told the BBC exclusively that he believed his son had been 'radicalised' by extreme online material and 'a culture of violence and horror'. He apologised to the injured girl and her family, saying 'we're so very sorry for what happened'. He called for tighter controls on extreme internet content, saying: 'You can think it can never happen to my family or my son couldn't be involved, but that's what we thought and that wasn't the case.'

The government said it was committed to ensuring children were safe from radicalisation and threats online, pointing to its Prevent anti-terrorism scheme and the Online Safety Act, which requires social media platforms to remove and prevent the spread of illegal content.

Read the report

• School attacker was radicalised online, says dadA father calls for tighter controls on extreme material after his son's attempted murder conviction.BBC Norfolk · 27 Oct, 05:33

In this story: Thorpe St Andrew School · Norwich

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