Teenagers bailed pending further inquiries after student was injured with craft knife during fight at top boarding school
Sam Jones
Two pupils from Stowe boarding school have been bailed by police following a knife attack in which a fellow student received a minor cut to his arm.
The 17-year-old boy was cut with a craft knife in a fight at around midnight yesterday in one of the boarding houses at the Buckinghamshire school.
Police arrested two boys, aged 17 and 16, on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but they were bailed last night pending further inquiries.
The injured boy was treated at Milton Keynes general hospital before being discharged at about 3am yesterday.
A spokeswoman for Stowe school – where boarding fees are just under £30,000 a year – said a number of items had been removed from the school by officers, including a craft knife.
The headmaster, Dr Anthony Wallersteiner, said: "Aggressive behaviour will never be tolerated here.
"All our pupils are aware that Stowe does not condone violence and adopts a policy of zero tolerance in any unacceptable use of a knife".
Stowe, which is housed in a neo-classical palace set in 750 acres of parkland, teaches 750 boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 18 and counts Sir Richard Branson among its alumni.
This is the second time police have attended the school in two months.
In March, a kitchen porter at the school was arrested on suspicion of lacing a soup with poison.
Police were called after a chef tasted the carrot and coriander soup due to be served to pupils as part of their evening meal and spat it out, saying it tasted acrid.
The porter was released on bail while forensic investigations took place. Police said there was no apparent motive for the alleged act.
The Guardian
