Murder of Ann Maguire

In November 2017, an inquest was held into Ann Maguire's death. The inquest was supported by Ann Maguire's family, but resisted by the Yorkshire Police, Corpus Christi School, and Leeds City Council. The inquest questioned why Cornick's peers had not reported that he planned to kill Maguire, nor said anything when he brought a knife to school. It returned a verdict of unlawful killing, and found that opportunities to prevent her murder were missed.

In January 2015, Cornick lost an appeal against his sentence.

On 28 April 2014, 61-year-old teacher Ann Maguire (5 April 1953 – 28 April 2014) was stabbed to death while teaching a Spanish lesson at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Halton Moor, Leeds, England. The perpetrator, William "Will" Cornick, who was 15 years old when he committed the murder, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 20 years at Leeds Crown Court on 3 November 2014.

Ann Maguire (née Connor) was aged 61 when she was murdered. She and her husband of 37 years, Donald, had two grown daughters, the younger of whom is Royal Ballet soloist Emma Maguire. She had spent her entire working life at Corpus Christi Catholic College, having taught there for 40 years, and was due to retire in five months. Her funeral service was held at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 16 May 2014.

On 28 April 2014, Cornick attended lessons as normal. After morning break, he went to the top floor for his Spanish lesson. Half way through the lesson, he stabbed Maguire seven times in the back and neck with a 21 cm (8.3 in) knife. One cut straight through her jugular vein. He then chased her into the corridor where Susan Francis (Head of Languages), alerted by screams, ran to help her. She separated and shielded Maguire from Cornick. Francis got Maguire away into another room where she held the door shut to keep Cornick out. Cornick then returned to his class and told a friend that it was a shame that he had not killed Maguire.

A personality change in Cornick had been noted following a collapse on holiday in Cornwall, after which he was diagnosed with diabetes. He had briefly self-harmed due to the condition. In 2013, he was upset at not being able to join the Army due to his diabetes. On Christmas of that year, he sent a Facebook message to a friend in which he talked about "brutally murdering" Maguire.

Among those paying tribute to Maguire were Pope Francis, Prime Minister David Cameron, and Frances Lawrence, widow of London headteacher Philip Lawrence who was murdered in 1995.

Author Anthony McGowan had been a pupil of Maguire's at Corpus Christi in the 1970s. He wrote an article about her in the Telegraph in which he said: