The Daily Telegraph, London, 30 March 1971
Caned boy knocks out headmaster
By Daily Telegraph Reporter
A 12-YEAR-OLD boy, given a stroke of the cane, turned and punched his headmaster in the jaw, knocking him unconscious, it was stated at a juvenile court yesterday.
As the headmaster fell, he caught his face on his chair and landed bleeding heavily from the nose.
"The head's nose and jaw were quite sore for some time after," Mr Keith Scott, prosecuting, told magistrates at Gloucester.
The boy admitted assaulting the headmaster causing actual bodily harm. The case was adjourned for probation reports.
Lashed out
The boy told police: "The head told me to bend over the chair. After he had hit me I just lashed out at him without thinking what I was doing."
In a statement the boy said: "It was for throwing paper darts from the classroom window.
"I've been suspended from school ever since and I am very sorry for what happened."
Mr Scott said that the headmaster started to cane the boy in the presence of the deputy headmaster.
"After giving one stroke of the cane the boy swung round and hit him with his right fist on the left side of the jaw." He was knocked unconscious.
Mr Roger Fry, for the boy, said the clerk had advised him not to submit a school report as it had been written by the headmaster.
The headmaster is short and stocky, about 5ft 4in tall, and approaching retiring age. The boy is about 4ft 6in and slightly built.
