On the morning of April 24, 2024, the quiet corridors of Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, were shattered by a shocking act of violence. A 13-year-old girl, armed with her father’s multi-tool knife, launched a brutal attack on two teachers—Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin—and a fellow pupil. The incident, which left the school community reeling, has since become the focus of a comprehensive multi-agency review, and the findings have raised tough questions about how warning signs were handled and the support available for troubled young people.
According to Metro and BBC, the girl—who cannot be named for legal reasons—was described as having a fascination with Adolf Hitler, war memorabilia, and weapons. She claimed to speak German and Russian and, prior to the attack, had been found with a knife at school. The review, commissioned by Carmarthenshire County Council and the Mid and West Wales Safeguarding Board, found that a referral to the UK Government’s anti-terror programme, Prevent, was discussed but ultimately not pursued. The report’s author, Gladys Rhodes White, noted, “Child A is seen as ‘quirky’ and ‘not quite fitting in,’ having unusual interests in war memorabilia, Hitler, a fascination with weapons and purporting to speak German and Russian.”
The girl’s troubling behavior did not begin on the day of the attack. In May 2023, she had threatened another pupil with a knife at a previous school, leading her father to agree to daily bag checks. She had also brought a ball bearing gun—essentially a BB gun—to school, and in September 2023, another knife was found in her bag. These incidents prompted discussions among teachers and school staff, but the information was not effectively shared among the agencies involved in her care.
Despite clear warning signs, offers of help often went unheeded. The review found that an Early Help assessment was offered to the girl and her family, but her father declined. Counseling support was also refused. The girl’s father told the review he felt that “services had let her and the family down,” expressing regret that he had not checked her bag on the morning of the attack because she had left home early. “He felt agencies ‘didn’t listen to me or my child when we needed help’,” the report stated.
On the day of the incident, the girl told other pupils she intended to stab Ms. Elias. She carried out the attack with chilling determination, repeatedly stabbing Elias and then turning on Liz Hopkin as she intervened. The girl then ran at a 14-year-old pupil and stabbed her before being restrained by teacher Darrel Campbell. In a statement to police after her arrest, she reportedly said, “That’s one way to be a celebrity.” According to BBC, Judge Paul Thomas KC, who sentenced her to 15 years in detention in April 2025 after she was found guilty of three counts of attempted murder, remarked that she had shown no remorse and had attacked the three for attention.
The independent review by Ms. Rhodes White painted a picture of a girl who was struggling with more than just behavioral issues. The report suggested she had mental health challenges, a troubled childhood marked by fractured parental relationships, and exposure to domestic abuse. Bullying was a persistent problem, both in school and on the bus, and the review found that the girl carried a knife to school daily as an “instinct thing” because she felt threatened.
Despite these red flags, the review concluded that “no information held by agencies identified a clear ability to foresee the shocking and unexpected events which occurred in April 2024.” Teachers at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman described her as showing distinctive behaviors that set her apart developmentally, but said they knew little about her history beyond her emotional and behavioral needs. The report found that, while many people had “pieces of the jigsaw,” none put them together as a whole. Liz Hopkin, one of the attacked teachers, told BBC she welcomed the report but was troubled that “the recommendations aren’t anything new,” and that the missed opportunities to intervene were deeply concerning.
The review made 11 recommendations, including calls for better information-sharing between agencies, more support for children who do not meet the Prevent threshold, and additional resources for schools to deal with increasingly complex needs. Ms. Rhodes White emphasized the need for “facilitating better inter-agency sharing of comprehensive, relevant and chronological information.” She also highlighted the challenges posed by long waiting lists for mental health assessments and the importance of monitoring children during these delays.
Rocio Cifuentes, Wales’ Children’s Commissioner, told BBC Radio Wales Drive that while this was “a very rare incident,” the underlying issues were affecting a growing number of young people. She said the main takeaway from the report was the need for more resources to support schools and help them meet the needs of students with complex and challenging behavior. “What the report is calling for is a better response to that growing need,” she remarked.
The joint statement from Carmarthenshire County Council, the school, Dyfed-Powys Police, and Hywel Dda University Health Board acknowledged the “challenging and difficult circumstance faced by the victims and the whole community of Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.” They pledged to address the report’s recommendations and praised the resilience of the school community: “The school’s strong sense of community and empathy has enabled students to return to their classrooms promptly and safely, with their wellbeing promoted at all times.”
The Welsh government echoed these sentiments, stating, “It is vital lessons are learnt from this tragic and shocking event to ensure incidents like this never happen again.” Officials added that they are working with partners “to develop more effective, multi-agency approaches to address behaviour issues in schools.”
As the dust settles at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, the story serves as a sobering reminder of the importance of vigilance, communication, and support for vulnerable children. While hindsight may offer clarity, the challenge now is to ensure that the lessons from this tragedy are not lost—and that no more children slip through the cracks.
