Unmasked: The baby-faced schoolboy, 15, who stabbed teacher Ann Maguire to death in her classroom as judge sentences him to 20 years and warns him he may die in prison

• Mrs Maguire, 61, was stabbed to death as she taught at school in Leeds
• William Cornick called her ‘f****** bitch that deserves more than death’
• He had brought a bottle of whisky to school to celebrate after the attack
• Cornick, who was 15 at time, winked at fellow pupil before attacking her
• He had good family background with ‘decent and responsible parents’
• Wanted to get caught and be jailed to avoid worries about life & money
• Cornick said: ‘I wasn’t in shock, I was happy. I had a sense of pride. I still do’
• He also wanted to attack pregnant woman ‘so as to kill her unborn child’
• Justice Coulson tells Leeds Crown Court that he may never be released
• Teacher’s family say after case: ‘We look to the future with a fragile hope’

A 16-year-old boy was today sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years after he admitted murdering teacher Ann Maguire.

William Cornick was named as the killer of 61-year-old Mrs Maguire – who was stabbed as she taught at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds – after a judge lifted an anonymity order.

It came as prosecutors released a chilling photograph of the classroom where the teenager – then aged 15 – murdered Mrs Maguire as she taught in April.

Killer: William Cornick (left) was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 20 years at Leeds Crown Court today after he admitted murdering teacher Ann Maguire (right) in West Yorkshire in April

Scene: The classroom at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds where Mrs Maguire was stabbed in April

Leeds Crown Court heard Cornick sent a Facebook message weeks before the killing, which said of Mrs Maguire: ‘The one absolute f****** bitch that deserves more than death, more than pain and more than anything that we can understand.’ 

He later told a psychiatrist: ‘I wasn’t in shock, I was happy. I had a sense of pride. I still do’. The boy also said after the killing that he thought everything he had done was ‘fine and dandy’.

Mr Justice Coulson – who said the boy may never be released – said he showed a ‘chilling lack of remorse’ over the attack that saw him chase Mrs Maguire, ‘stabbing her as she sought to escape’.

He set the 20-year tariff – the minimum time Cornick must serve in custody before he is released – but added that, after reading about him, ‘it’s quite possible that day may never come’.

Cornick dramatically pleaded guilty earlier, on the day he was due to stand trial for her killing.

The court was also told how Cornick had brought a bottle of whisky to school to celebrate after the attack, and had winked at a fellow pupil before starting to stab Mrs Maguire.

Cornick was said to have had a good family background with ‘decent and responsible parents’ – but wanted to be caught and jailed to avoid future worries about life and money.

Sketch: Cornick (face obscured due to earlier reporting restriction), who stabbed Mrs Maguire, sits in the dock

Mrs Maguire’s family: Don Maguire (right) and his daughters Emma (front left) and Kerry (front centre) stand outside Leeds Crown Court as a statement is read, after the sentencing of the boy found guilty of the murder

Prosecutor Paul Greaney QC told the court: ‘Late on the night of Christmas Eve 2013 and into the early hours of Christmas Day, the defendant exchanged messages with a friend on Facebook.

‘In those messages he spoke of “brutally killing” Mrs Maguire and spending the rest of his life in jail so as not to have to worry about life or money.’