Girl, 13, charged after school stabbings

A 13-year-old girl has been charged with three counts of attempted murder after two teachers and a pupil were stabbed at a school in south-west Wales.

Dyfed-Powys Police said the teenager was arrested at the scene at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire.

Two teachers and a teenage pupil were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening stab wounds.

They have all since been discharged.

The Crown Prosecution Service said the girl had also been charged with possessing a bladed article on a school premises and would appear at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

The school went into lockdown for about four hours at 11:20 BST on Wednesday after teachers Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin and a pupil were injured.

Supt Ross Evans said: “A 13-year-old girl was arrested at the scene, I can confirm, she has now been charged with three counts of attempted murder.

“Following this, yesterday evening, our control room received a number of calls reporting concerns about messages being shared on social media which had references to the incident here at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.

“Officers swiftly carried out a warrant at the home of the person believed to be responsible for this content.”

A 15-year-old boy was arrested and is in custody.

The investigations, Supt Evans said, were being run separately but officers were looking to see whether the alleged offences were linked.

“I would urge people not to speculate, or share pictures or videos of either investigation,” he said.

He thanked the other emergency services, the NHS and others who helped after the incident.

Teachers and staff are expected to return on Friday to prepare the building for pupils to come back on Monday.

On Wednesday Wales’ First Minister, Vaughan Gething, said he was “shocked” to hear what had happened.

“A deeply worrying time for the school, families and community,” he said.

Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “I want to thank the police and emergency services for their ongoing response and my thoughts are with all those affected.”

Head teacher James Durbridge praised staff and students for their “calm and mature response” to the lockdown saying it had been a “difficult day”.

Ysgol Dyffryn Aman – which translates as Amman Valley School in English – is a bilingual comprehensive school in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire.

The school, which educates 11 to 18-year-olds, has about 1,450 pupils.

It’s about 20 miles (32km) from the centre of Swansea and 60 miles (97km) from Cardiff.