School stabbing suspect is former pupil, Met says

A 13-year-old boy who was arrested after two boys were stabbed at a school in north-west London was a former pupil, the Met Police has said.

The force said the suspect is believed to have gone to Kingsbury High School in Brent on Tuesday and entered a first-floor classroom.

A pupil was then sprayed with a non-noxious substance before a 13-year-old boy was stabbed. A 12-year-old boy was stabbed as the attacker left the school, officers said.

The arrested boy was held on suspicion of attempted murder after he was found at a mosque in the NW10 area. The Met said it did not believe the suspect had a connection to the mosque and thinks it was coincidental that he was in the area.

Det Ch Insp Luke Williams said he understood the incident had been "hugely distressing" for the local community, but said it was a "one-off event which led to the swift arrest of the suspect".

BBC Special Correspondent Lucy Manning said it was understood that investigating officers believe the suspect's motivation may have been related to a personal grievance rather than an ideological motivation.

Det Ch Sup Helen Flanagan, of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said a boy had arrived at the school at 12:30 GMT.

Officers were called to the scene at 12:39 and arrived 13 minutes later.

The Met said the suspect fled the school immediately after the attacks.

He was arrested when officers received reports of a child in distress at a mosque, and a knife was also seized.

BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Daniel Sandford said it was understood that some had heard the attacker saying words like "Allahu Akbar" - or similar - meaning "God is greatest" in Arabic, during the incident.

Detectives said that they could not confirm the phrase was said, but that some child witnesses had told officers they had heard the phrase.

Flanagan added that the force was collecting witness statements from 30 to 40 children, along with CCTV from the school. The suspect's devices are also being examined by officers.

"This is an extremely delicate process given the young ages of many of the witnesses from the school and we are using highly trained and specialist officers to carry out these interviews," she said.

BBC London understands the suspect was wearing school uniform.

Flanagan said officers had conducted searches across three addresses, two of which were connected to the suspect, and the mosque.

She confirmed that the suspect was a British national who was born in and lives in the UK.

Simon Theodorou, a parent of a child at the school, told the Telegraph the attacker "managed to get his way in by climbing over a wall".

He also claimed one of the victims "pulled the fire alarm to get help", praising the boy as "a hero".

Head teacher Alex Thomas said the incident was "a deeply traumatic event for the whole school community", in a letter to parents and carers.

The Lower School was closed on Wednesday but the Upper School was open to students in Years 10-13.

Reporting from the scene on Wednesday morning, BBC Radio London journalist Gem O'Reilly said pupils arriving at the school said they felt nervous and distressed.

Other pupils have said they were scared to walk to school.

Local man Moeen, a former pupil, told the BBC: "I feel very sad for them and their family...the age of 13 is just for playing...they're children".

Speaking in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the stabbing as an "appalling attack" and said his thoughts were with the two children, and all of those affected.

Dawn Butler, MP for Brent East, said: "The whole school community - the parents, the wider community - are deeply shocked by this.

"There has been a lot of support given to the school, obviously that will have to be ongoing.

"It's a parent's worst nightmare to think they are sending their child to school and something may well happen to them."

On Wednesday, Minister for School Standards, Georgia Gould, told BBC Breakfast installing mandatory knife arches - a walk‑through metal detector - was not something the government was looking into.

"But we are taking action on knife violence and in a whole range of ways, in terms of training, in terms of investment, in terms of support for young people," she added.

In 2023, Sir Sadiq Khan said metal wand detectors would be available for schools in order to help protect pupils from knife crime.

Kingsbury High School is an academy school serving children aged 11 to 18, with both upper and lower sites.

Alumni include singer George Michael, jazz musician Courtney Pine, Floyd Steadman - the first black captain of the Saracens rugby team - and writer Ekow Eshun.

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