SCHOOL HEADTEACHER PHILIP LAWRENCE WAS ALSO MURDERED IN SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES IN 1995

School headteacher Philip Lawrence was murdered in 1995 when he attempted to protect one of his pupils from being attacked by a street gang. 

The 48-year-old was hit over the head with an iron bar, kicked and then stabbed through the heart, outside St George's Roman Catholic School in Maida Vale, north-west London.

The fatal blow was struck by 15-year-old Learco Chindamo, who had denied the crime but was convicted and jailed for a minimum of 12 years in 1996.

Previous case: In 1995, headmaster Philip Lawrence (left) was stabbed when he intervened in a fight outside his school, St George’s in Maida Vale, London, and later died. His killer was Learco Chindamo (right)

He was the leader of a Triad-inspired gang of mainly Filipino students who wanted to  ‘punish’ a 13-year-old student after he quarrelled with one of them.

Mr Lawrence saw the boy being hit with a metal bar, but was murdered when he intervened. It later emerged Chindamo had bragged to a friend in an amusement arcade that he had ‘killed a teacher’.

‘I’ve turned around as he’s tapped me on the shoulder and I’ve stabbed him in the chest,’ he said.  Just 12 days before he stabbed Mr Lawrence, he had attacked a passer-by with a beer bottle.

 

Previous case: In 1995, headmaster Philip Lawrence was stabbed when he intervened in a fight outside his school, St George’s in Maida Vale, London, and later died. His killer was Learco Chindamo