A schoolboy has pleaded guilty to possessing a knife at an Aberdeenshire secondary school.
The youngster, who is still a pupil at the school where he committed the offence, was found with the weapon on December 14 last year.
The Press and Journal is not allowed to name the boy or the school because of reporting restrictions.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told he was 16 when the offence happened but he has since turned 17.
He did not appear in court but defence agent Stuart Beveridge tendered a guilty plea in his absence.
Boy is still a pupil
Sheriff William Summers immediately called for background social work reports to be carried out on the boy and deferred sentence for four weeks.
The boy will appear in the dock next month, when the circumstances of the incident will be shared publicly.
A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “We have a robust policy and process which all schools must adopt when dealing with any young person in possession of a knife.
“This includes working with Police Scotland and other agencies where appropriate. Safety is our first priority and all necessary steps have been followed in this case.”
This is the latest incident involving a knife at a north-east school since the killing of 16-year-old Bailey Gwynne, who was stabbed to death by a fellow pupil at Cults Academy in 2015.
Just a year after Bailey’s death, a 10-year-old boy brandished a penknife at a classmate in Fraserburgh.
Staff at the school were only alerted when another pupil told their parent about the incident at lunchtime.
Viral video involving knife
And in April 2016, just two months later, a video clip was released showing a 16-year-old outside Turriff Academy with a knife tucked into his trousers.
The video, which appears to show pupils arranging for a fight to take place, was condemned by local councillors at the time.
The teen was subsequently handed a community payback order at court for the offence.
In 2017, a schoolboy brandished a knife during a fight on the grounds of Peterhead Academy.
That situation was only calmed when other students stepped in to restrain him until teachers could arrive.
Primary age children had blades
In 2018, three separate instances of primary age children being found with knives were reported.
An eight-year-old at Aberdeen school was charged with threatening and abusive behaviour after taking a knife from the school’s canteen in January 2018.
A five-year-old boy was caught with a blade at another city school a month later, and a nine-year-old boy was charged with allegedly taking a knife to a Fraserburgh school in March 2018.
More recently, police were called in to investigate claims that a pupil had a knife at St Machar Academy in Aberdeen in May 2019.
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