Teacher attacked in Ammanford stabbing suffered ‘four deep wounds’, says husband

A special needs teacher injured in a stabbing at a Welsh secondary school suffered “four quite deep stab wounds”, her husband has said.

Liz Hopkins, 57, was taken to hospital after the attack, which happened at Amman Valley School in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, on Wednesday.

Fiona Elias, a fellow teacher, was also injured, along with a pupil, after chaos erupted at the end of morning break.

Mrs Hopkins was airlifted to hospital following the attack. She and the other victims have since been discharged.

Speaking to The Telegraph on Thursday, her husband John, who also works at the school, said it would take a “fair few weeks” for her to recover.

“She’s seriously hurt,” he said. “She’s recovering now, but it’s going to take quite a while. She’s very badly injured. Four quite deep stab wounds, but they missed anything vital. It’s going to take a fair few weeks for the wounds to heal.

“I work with her. It was quite frightening. I’d rather not go into it. She went off in the helicopter [to the hospital] and I drove there.

“At the time they thought it could be life-threatening, but not once they did all the tests on her. I was worried. She’s very shaken, very concerned about the kids that were around and the other members of staff and children who were there.”

Darrel Campbell, the head of Year 11 and a former rugby player, put the suspect in an armlock until police arrived.

Cefin Campbell, the member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales, told BBC Radio Wales Mr Campbell, his brother, worked at the school as a teacher and had intervened in the incident.

Mr Campbell, a former student of Amman Valley School, said: “He’s been a teacher there for 40 years and he was involved in the incident yesterday in the sense that he was the first to the scene, and he obviously had to deal with a very distressing and chaotic situation.

“He probably did what most people would have done in the same situation, try to calm things and restrain people from making the situation worse. Obviously he’s been shaken by the whole experience, as have all the staff, pupils, parents and so on.”

A schoolgirl witness said: “Everyone was running and there were screams. Mr Campbell arrived on the scene and put her in an armlock.”

Pupils hid in toilets and cupboards as the school went into lockdown for four hours.

James Durbridge, the head teacher, said on the school’s website: “Today has been a very difficult day. It goes without saying that my thoughts are with the three individuals and their families, who have been affected by today’s incident.

“We are proud to have witnessed pupils embodying the school’s core values while supporting their peers and staff. I wish to commend all staff and pupils for their calm and mature response during today’s lockdown.”

Mr Durbridge said the school’s 1,500 pupils could get “well-being support” if they were affected by what they saw in the playground.

A teenage girl remains in custody, and officers will be at the school throughout the day as the CID-led investigation progresses.

A teenage boy is also in custody after being arrested on suspicion of making threats referencing the knife attack. The boy, from the Cross Hands area around six miles from the school, was arrested following reports about threatening messages on social media on Thursday morning.

Supt Ross Evans said: “We would like to thank the many members of the public who reported concerns around messages they had seen online. This allowed us to take swift action in executing a warrant and arresting a suspect.

“While this investigation is being run separately to our inquiries into the major incident at Ysgol Dyffryn Amman yesterday, our officers will be seeking to establish both the credibility of the threats and whether there was any connection between the alleged offences.

“Again, I would urge people not to speculate, not to share any images or videos relating to either investigation, and to allow us to carry out our enquiries fully. If you, or your children, are distressed by these events, please seek support from an appropriate agency.”