Judge lets ‘bright lad’ who stabbed girl 10 times avoid jail

[IwantToRetire]

The young offender – who cannot be named because he is under 18 – had become obsessed with the girl at his school. He began using fake social media accounts to send her messages after she rejected his advances in December last year.

One morning in March, he waited for the girl near the shop and asked her out on a date. When she said no, he followed her, with a knife in his pocket and stabbed her at least 10 times, inflicting cuts to her neck, hands and face.

Footage released by the police shows the boy chasing the girl through the store with the knife in his hand.

...

Transcripts of court hearings in the case, seen by The Telegraph, reveal that Judge Ian Lawrie KC’s principal consideration was the offender’s rehabilitation.

“You’re a bright lad – I’m going to impose a curfew,” the judge said.
“You’re not to contact directly or indirectly by any means, social media or otherwise, [the victim] and her mother, and also keep out of mischief.

“My own view is custody is the last place you should be... What I’m trying to do is find a sentence that’s best constructed to help you and give you support.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10/27/teenager-stabbed-girl-judge-ian-lawrie/

And also https://archive.is/RGbaZ

Rehabilitation is very important for someone this young so that he will hopefully turn into a decent person. But he also needs punishment, and a message must be sent out that behaviour like this will end in a custodial sentence or matter how bright you are. That girl also deserves justice, and to feel safe while her attacker is put away. The whole thing is a disgrace.

Agree.

Those traveller boys who raped two girls earlier this year also weren't jailed - because they had learning difficulties and the judge was being compassionate about their lack of understanding.

If you're not bright, you're clearly fine because you don't understand what you did wrong. But if you are, we wouldn't want to ruin your life.

Am I alone in feeling like we're all getting more powerless. Even the ability to talk about stuff online is under threat when you've got this business of government wanting you to prove who you are to use any sort of social media. I would never in a million years do that. I've used boards to talk about past bad experiences as have so many women but try to out people and make it all traceable and that outlet goes and so does the ability to organize and protest.

If a petition is about 'honours and appointments' in relation to individuals it gets thrown out automatically. So it would have to demand that parliament do something about misogyny in the justice system and judiciary and remove those who display it rather than addressing this individual as anything other than an example.

This judge gave a 16 year old boy a suspended sentence for raping a 17 year old girl. He also let off a guy who had sexually abused three young girls.

https://www.gloucestershire.police.uk/news/gloucestershire/2026/october/woman-who-was-raped-by-boy-when-she-was-17-encourages-others-to-seek-support/

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/man-who-abused-three-young-979224

I wonder if because it's been made harder for judges to blame the women and girls who are victims the judges are compensating by bigging up the violent males?

I came across this longish article in the Telegraph. It's interesting, but a little upsetting, and likely may have nothing to do with this bright, mischievous, murderous wee scamp's mindset. Trigger warning

https://archive.ph/1cTs5

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/10/29/rise-of-nihilism-behind-school-attacks-across-globe/

For the uninitiated Jesse van Rootselaar was a trans identifying male.

That reminds me of this case:

We definitely need some kind of system whereby we don't just say "Well, he was once made a judge, so he can't ever be wrong". People in most other professions are required to regularly undergo thorough testing of their ability and competence to continue.

Considering the power that judges have, working on behalf of society, there should be extremely exhaustive mechanisms whereby they are repeatedly made and shown to justify this massive privilege and position of responsibility. Also, an overturning of one of their judgments - or even a significant groundswell of reasoned protests - should be an automatic disqualification for life.

If they (rightly) get to scrutinise everything about the defendant's life and history, why should we not do the same with them? Who guards the guards? If they don't want to go through this, absolutely fine; you just don't get to be a judge, then.

We also need a lot more female judges, and those from a working-class background. Maybe we should also allow victims to request a female judge, or a judge from an ethnic minority, to feel confidently represented and minimise the risk of their being 'othered' and dismissed as unimportant. If we don't have enough female, black and Asian, and working-class judges to facilitate this... well, we know what we need to urgently focus on, then. At present, even if judges didn't arrive there via a posh public boys' school, they end up de facto in one once they join the profession.

Should we write to our MPs about our concerns about this?

If you get a different sentence for the same crime/criminal depending on the ethnicity or sex of the judge, that is a system that doesn't work.

But the system clearly doesn't work now. How can we know if you're only tried by one judge and given one sentence? It would be a good precautionary measure.

The vast majority of male doctors would be perfectly respectful and professional when treating female patients with intimate healthcare needs, but that doesn't mean that a woman doesn't have the right to request a female doctor - for her own peace of mind and dignity.

Any male whose excuse for having committed rape is that he’s not capable of understanding why it’s wrong should be permanently restrained so he never has the chance to do it again.

Stabbed ten times in the face/neck area; it is only sheer luck that she didn't lose an eye or bleed out from a severed artery. He is dangerous and should be acknowledged as such.

This must have been posted while I was typing my pp. So, the judge, Ian Lawrie, has handed down what seem unduly lenient sentences to at least three abusive males. He's probably sentenced hundreds of people though so these examples show very little. Does anyone know if there's a system in place to monitor how judges hand down sentences? Is there a line plotted, sentences that should be expected in line with recommendations for a particular crime, and judges that are consistently above or below are spoken to by their judgey superiors?

The woman in the first case is a hero.

Regardless of any other circumstances, any person who deliberately uses a knife to stab the flesh of a living human being (obviously with the exception of a surgeon in the course of their work; or possibly genuine, provable self-defence in the face of a severe 'it's them or me' attack) should receive a mandatory long custodial sentence, with lifelong monitoring even if they are eventually released.

Simply put, we don't want somebody who would see a sharp knife and think it appropriate to plunge it into a person to be free to do so in society. Failing to do so is the direct equivalent of allowing lions and tigers to roam freely in public - even though the latter are only following the natural instincts for their species - which no sane person would ever countenance.

Same old, same old; men covering for each other so that they don't lose their advantage, i.e that they can get away with dominating, exploiting, abusing, raping and murdering women.

Sentencing remarks available now. He attempted to stab the girl ten times, including her face and neck

It’s absolutely brutal. The judge hellbent on getting the perpetrator a low outcome.

Terrifying.

Wow. I don't know what to say.

This judge needs to be struck off. He's clearly not competent.

Same it makes me feel like crying out of frustration. Fuck this. The poor 14 year old girl who merely said no.

Just thinking of that makes me rage. Anyone with a dd will be thinking about this and terrified by it. It’s not right.

The government isn't serious about tackling violence against women and girls - just window dressing (as on other issues).

You can appeal to the attorney general, who will have to review the sentence this if they get enough complaints.

Trouble is, on googling, to complain to the attorney general about the sentence , you have to give details of name etc , which are not known to the public due to his age. What can we do?

Mr Name Redacted-by-Courts and links to the accounts of the case.

Muy thai here. But also telling DD that women often freeze so whatever happens if there is an incident, she is not to feel guilt or shame.

There was a boy with a knife at her school and parents were emailed to say, "#BeKind, don't talk about it, don't be mean to the boy". I went full psycho-mum on the male headmaster. Imagine telling girls to be understanding to the boy that tried to stab a female teacher.