A BOY aged 16 has been expelled from an Accrington school in the aftermath of a gang assault on the headteacher.

But the schoolboy's parents, who do not want to be named for fear of reprisals, today claimed that their son was trying to protect Moorhead High teacher Allan Grey from the attack - and will appeal against the decision to expel their son.

A letter from the school states that the boy has been permanently excluded for possessing an offensive weapon and using it during the attack on Mr Grey, and also for his history of threatening and defiant behaviour.

A gang of youths, aged around 16, walked into the school grounds at Moorhead High and attacked the headteacher during a morning break on December 7.

Police said that Mr Grey was taken to hospital and then sent home suffering from concussion.

The pupil, whose suspension has still to be ratified by governors, today claimed that there was a fight between one of his friends and another boy at the school the day before Mr Grey was attacked.

He said the other boy had told of how his big brother was going to go into school and beat them up.

A group of around five youths turned up at morning break and when Mr Grey told them to leave one of them hit him over the head with a piece of wood. He claims that he and a friend ran over and intervened and that he was hit about the side of his head and his wrist by the youth wielding the stick.

The expelled pupil said he pulled the stick out of the youth's hand and then a teacher dragged him off to an office and accused him of having an offensive weapon.

The boy said he ran back out to help his friend by which time the youths had left.

He said that he told teachers that Mr Grey would have been even more seriously injured if they had stayed out of it. His parents said today that he was told to take voluntary exclusion for his own protection but then it turned into a permanent exclusion order which runs until January when the matter will go before the school's governors.

The boy's mother claims her son, who has been in trouble before for swearing at teachers, fighting and refusing to attend detentions, has been made a scapegoat because of his past behaviour.

She said: "He has his GCSE's coming up and the sooner we can get him back into school the better.

"I have now got to make an appointment with the governors to put my son's case to them."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "The matter is coming before the board of governors in January and the school can not comment any further so as not to prejudice the governor's decision."

Police are still hunting for the group of Asian youths responsible for the attack.

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