Teenage boy stabs school teacher in UK, arrested

A teenage boy was on Monday arrested after a teacher at a school in western England was stabbed, police said, as the UK battles a surge in knife crime.

The school was immediately locked down and police called after the incident just before 9am, headteacher of the Tewkesbury School Kathleen McGillycuddy said.

"Police have arrested a teenage boy in connection with this incident," she added in a statement on the school's website.

Police said the casualty had been taken to hospital "with a suspected stab wound", without giving any further details.

The UK has seen a hike in the number of stabbings reported in recent years, although the violence is more commonly associated with inner-city areas.

Tewkesbury, where Monday's incident took place, is a medieval market town located in the rural county of Gloucestershire.

In England and Wales, there were around 45,000 crimes involving a knife or sharp instrument in the year up to the end of March 2022, according to government figures.

The figures represent a nine percent increase on the previous year and a 34 percent increase on 2010/11.