A science teacher shouted “die, die, die” as he bludgeoned one of his pupils about the head with a dumbbell during a lesson, a court has heard.

Peter Harvey is accused of battering the 14-year-old boy as he attempted to regain control of his lesson, which was in a state of “uproar” at All Saints Roman Catholic School in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

Peter Harvey denies a charge of attempted murder

Moments before the 50-year-old launched his attack, the boy was playing volleyball with screwed up bits of paper before sword-fighting with metre-long rulers in a game of “high jinks”.

The class was in chaos, with pupils calling the teacher a “psycho” after he threw out one 14-year-old girl who was messing about with window blinds. She stormed out crying, calling him a “bald-headed bastard” in front of classmates, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

One pupil secretly filmed Harvey, deemed a “soft touch” by students, with a camcorder to “humiliate” him as he tried to regain control of his lesson on July 8 last year.


In the video he could be heard shouting at his alleged victim to stop fighting with the wooden ruler, one of many occasions when teenagers would “push the boundaries” in his lessons. In the film, Harvey can be heard shouting: “Put it back or you’ll regret it. Put it back now. Put it back where it came from, not there.”

Moments later he grabbed the youngster by the collar and dragged him out of the classroom into a nearby preparation room on the second floor of the school’s science block.

Stuart Rafferty QC, prosecuting, said Harvey, a married father-of-two, hit the boy about the head with the 3kg weight, leaving him unconscious with a fractured skull and severe cuts. Mr Rafferty said: “He struck at least two blows to the head which caused serious injury, really serious injury. At the time the blows were being struck Mr Harvey was only heard to say one thing. What he was saying was ‘die, die, die’.”

The barrister added: “No one can say for one moment what happened to this boy was deserved or justified. What he (Harvey) did was grossly disproportionate to the wrong inflicted on him by the boy or other members of the class. There was simply no excuse for what happened.”

Harvey, who appeared in the dock dressed in a beige suit and brown tie, has already admitted causing grievous bodily harm without intent. Prosecutors are seeking to prove he knew what he was doing when he attacked the boy. They claim it is attempted murder but if the jury rejects this, Harvey could be found guilty of an alternative charge of grievous bodily harm with intent.