Safeguarding board wrong to delay review into school hammer attack

The attack at Ridgeway School, Wroughton, near Swindon, left Henry Webster, who was 15 at the time, with life-threatening injuries.

Despite the attack happening in 2007, the LSCB only decided to launch a serious case review earlier this year, as it mistakenly thought the incident did not fall under its remit.

Further delays occurred due to a civil case being taken by the Webster family against the school. The school’s insurers had advised the school against contributing to the serious case review until this civil case had ended.

This prompted the LSCB to launch a phased serious case review, which involved postponing an examination of the circumstances surrounding the attack until after the civil case had ended.

Citing guidelines in the Children Act 2004, Mr Justice Park ruled that the LSCB had a duty to swiftly investigate an incident where a child has been seriously harmed.

He added that the phased approach was also wrong and that any serious case review must be comprehensive and thorough.

The Webster family lawyer Mark McGhee said: "This is an absolute judicial vindication of all of the attempts made by Henry and his family for there to be a full, proper and impartial investigation into all of the circumstances and factors leading up to the most appalling assault on Henry."

A Swindon LSCB spokesman said: "We are disappointed with this ruling. We sought to set up the serious case review to ensure it would give everyone the fullest picture of the circumstances around the case, and we took extensive professional and legal advice before making our decision to hold the review in two parts. We will now decide on the best way forward from this point."