Schoolboy, 16, is secretly sent back to class AFTER admitting he punched another teenager to death and was waiting to be sentenced

Adapted from DailyMail

A teenager who killed another pupil by repeatedly punching him in the head was secretly placed in a new school before he could be sentenced.

Darren Taylor was just 14 when he killed 14-year-old classmate Euan Craig, after a row in their school gym.

However, following the fatal attack Taylor was moved to a new school - where pupils and even most of his teachers were unaware he was due to be sentenced for culpable homicide.

He spent three weeks at Knightswood Secondary School in Glasgow after admitting the killing in May 2012.

As a pupil at Rosshall Academy in Crookston, Taylor had erupted into a rage when fellow pupil Euan accidentally hit him with a sponge ball in the school gym.

Euan, who had been aiming at one of his friends as he waited for his teacher to arrive only to catch Taylor on the side of his face, immediately apologised.

However, Taylor walked up to him and hit him approximately five times on the side of the head, as Euan tried to back away and shield himself from the blows.

Throughout the attack Euan continued to say sorry for throwing the ball.

Euan then went to sit on a bench with other pupils, but slumped from his seat suffering a seizure.

A teacher rushed to help him, but he did not respond.

The boy was taken to hospital, where doctors discovered massive bleeding in his brain, and he died the following afternoon after suffering from the freak head injury.

A pathologist concluded that Euan’s fatal brain haemorrhage was caused by him being struck on the left side of his face.

After a hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh, Taylor was sent to a young offenders institution by judge Lord Bracadale, who told the teen he had no option but to impose a custodial sentence.

He had told Taylor: 'I have come to the view that the sustained nature of the assault, the circumstances in which it was committed and the devastating consequences which flowed from it combine to indicate that, despite you age, the only appropriate disposal is a custodial one.'

The court had been told that according to Taylor's school report from Rosshall Academy, he was a quiet boy whose behaviour was generally good.

Glasgow City Council were obliged by law to continue providing Taylor with education, even after he admitted to the killing.

Rather than being tutored at home, the schoolboy started at his new school in September last year, just months after Euan's death.

He admitted culpable homicide on October 25 last year, but remained at Knightswood, which has 1,300 pupils, until November 16 - one week before he was sentenced three-and-a-half years in detention.

Only a few select staff members who had direct contact with the teenager were told of Taylor's background.

'Taylor’s arrival at Knightswood was conducted in complete secrecy,' a source close to the school told the Daily Record.

'There should never have been any question about schooling him at home but instead, education officials put him back in the classroom.'

The source said that most parents were not informed of Taylor's presence at the school, although the chairman of the Parent Teacher Association was told.

Taylor's identity has remained hidden until he turned 16 last week, and reached the age of criminal responsibility in Scotland.

Euan's parents, Richard and Ann, and legal experts have questioned whether it was appropriate to place him in a busy secondary school, instead of him having lessons at home.

Mr Craig, 45, raised fears that a pupil at Knightswood may have recognised Taylor and confronted him.

His wife, 44, said the family still had unanswered questions relating to the attack, including why Euan's class had been left unsupervised.

Scottish Shadow Justice Minister Graeme Pearson also said that given the nature of his crime, there should have been more consideration into whether Taylor could have been home schooled.

He said: 'We really need to challenge whether the right decision was taken to send Taylor to another school after he pleaded guilty to such a terrible crime, particularly as other pupils and parents were oblivious to what dangers they might have faced.'

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said: 'A multi-agency full risk assessment was carried out prior to the move and the parent council fully involved in the decision.

'As a council we have a duty of care to educate every child.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2513110/Schoolboy-16-secretly-sent-class-just-weeks-admitting-punched-teenager-death.html