The widower of a school teacher who was murdered in her classroom has said the tragedy still offers a huge opportunity to learn lessons about the dangers of knife crime.

Don Maguire has paid tribute to his wife Ann as the fourth anniversary of her death approaches.

She was killed by 15-year-old pupil Will Cornick who stabbed her at Corpus Christi Catholic College, in Leeds on April 28, 2014.

Cornick was jailed for 20 years for her murder.

However Mr Maguire said he was concerned that four years after the tragedy, lessons had not been learned from his wife’s murder.

He described his wife as “a special person who gave her lifetime to helping others face, cope and resolve life’s problems with an openness and honesty of approach which was often transforming.”

But he added: “Yet so often our requests and inquiries have been met by denials, refusals, and rejections.  Mental health, knife crime and violent deaths are top of the social issue agenda and in the aftermath of this devastating tragedy was a huge opportunity to better understand a raft of behaviours and learn lessons.

“It is with incredulity and bewilderment that we witness responsible bodies so resolutely determined to avoid examination, understanding and learning from such a vital case study.”

His family lost a legal challenge against a coroner’s decision not to call evidence from pupils who had contact with her killer immediately before her death.

Mr Maguire has highlighted this again today and said the pupils would now be 20-years-old.