Anguish of stab boy's mother

The mother of a 14-year-old boy stabbed to death by another pupil told today of her utter devastation.

Jayne Walmsley, whose son Luke was stabbed in the heart with a six-inch flick knife in a school corridor, said: "It is too much to bear. This is an appalling tragedy. I am absolutely devastated. I am overwhelmed with grief."

Luke was attacked by another pupil after a row while on his way to a science lesson at the Birkbeck School in the Lincolnshire village of North Somercotes near Louth. Pupils watched as he tried to escape to the safety of a classroom but collapsed in a pool of blood yesterday morning.

Teachers tried to resuscitate him before he was flown by air ambulance to hospital in Grimsby. Police immediately arrested a 15-year-old pupil and are today questioning him at Skegness police station.

Speaking for the first time about the tragedy Mrs Walmsley said today: "He was a wonderful, polite boy. I cannot believe this has happened to him."

Luke, a talented athlete who excelled at martial arts and clay pigeon shooting, had no history of trouble at school, she said.

His stepfather Mark Rowbotham, 32, said: "We are all heartbroken by this tragedy. He was a kind boy with no malice. I have no idea how this happened."

Luke's father, Paul Walmsley, a director of an insulation company, lives in North Somercotes.

Although he is divorced from Luke's mother, the pair remain on good terms and Luke and his sister Lauren, 11, divided their time between their parents' homes. Today he was said too upset to comment.

Luke's aunt, Lynn Campion, 49, said he was "bright and easygoing" with an ambition to join the police.

She said: "He was a very sensible boy. He would stick up for himself if he got picked on, but he certainly wasn't a boy that went looking for trouble." Jackie Johnson, a neighbour of the family in Cleethorpes, said: "I saw him yesterday as he left for school. He was smiling, friendly and well-turned out. He was a good boy from a good family at a good school."

Mrs Johnson, 53, added: "Jayne is never going to get over this. She has lost her only son. Lauren has lost her brother.

"It is shattering for them all. They have told me he was stabbed in the heart, but they know nothing more about it. How can any child take a knife into school?

"Luke was a wonderful lad, well-built and strong for his age and I can only think that he was sticking up for somebody else. There is no other explanation."

A final-year pupil said he knew the attacker, adding: "It happened in the corridor as they were going between lessons. Apparently everything just went to pot. Our teacher was the first one there.

"We were all moved to another classroom while they cordoned the area off. Then the kids who saw it were taken to be interviewed by the police. We were all sent to assembly until we had permission for our parents to come and pick us up."

He added: "It's normally a quiet school - we don't usually have problems with bullying or fighting or anything like that."

The parent of one child at the school said the attacker was a boy who had taken a knife into the quiet, rural school on several occasions.

She said: "He's been bringing the knife to school and showing it off to kids. My daughter saw it and said, 'What are you doing with that?' but he was not bothered. She said the two boys had been having a quarrel."

David Hart, general secretary of National Association of Headteachers, said the incident would send " shockwaves" through the education system.

He added: "It does demonstrate very clearly the fact that, although the level of violence is very rare, there are an incredible number of youngsters who are willing to sign up to the knife culture and bring an offensive weapon into school."

The 276 pupil school - motto: "Achievement by Caring" - will remain closed today as detectives investigate.

Headteacher Gary Loveridge was too upset to comment.

Governors chairman John Stevens said: "The head and the staff are numb with shock."

The school is one of the area's most popular schools with a reputation for producing good GCSE results. This morning, bouquets of flowers were being placed outside the school gates.