Ex-pupils remember teacher at mass

Former pupils of a much-loved teacher who was stabbed to death in a classroom in the UK have gathered at a church service to remember her.

A 15-year-old boy remains in custody following the death of Spanish teacher Anne Maguire (61) at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds yesterday.

This morning around 150 people gathered at Corpus Christi Church, which is connected to the school where she taught for more than 40 years.

Many of the popular teacher’s pupils were among the congregation, although current pupils did not attend.

Some people were in tears as Monsignor Paul Fisher began the mass.

He told them: “Yesterday evening, the community gathered here in church as well as outside to light candles and to say a prayer.

“Some people struggled to know what to pray for.

“By the time the church was closed, the candelabras were full of light.

“Today we pray for the light of hope. Hope for ourselves that we will come to terms, eventually, with what has happened.

“We pray for all those young people at our school next door and their teachers. We pray for Anne’s family and friends. We pray for Anne.

“We offer prayers too for the family of the man who, unfortunately, did what he did.

“We pray for ourselves.”

Mrs Maguire’s death is thought to be the first time a teacher has been fatally stabbed in a British classroom, and the first killing of a teacher in a school since the 1996 Dunblane massacre.