A British teacher snapped and smashed a teenage student in the head with a 2kg metal weight after being heckled to a Michael Jackson tune, reports claim.
Science teacher Peter Harvey, 49, is being held on suspicion of attempted murder over Wednesday's assault of 14-year-old pupil Jack Waterhouse at a school in Mansfield, north England.
Now more details have emerged about the assault, with Jack's classmates telling British newspapers Mr Harvey allegedly belted the teenager with metal weight before shouting: "People are going to die".
The incident is said to have begun when a female student swore at the married father-of-two and tore a page out of a textbook.
Mr Harvey reportedly then kicked the girl's bag and told her, "If you damage school property, school will damage your property".
The exchange is said to have prompted other students in the class to taunt Mr Harvey by singing "I'm staring at the psycho in the mirror" to the Michael Jackson hit "Man In The Mirror".
When Jack then swore at Mr Harvey, it was reportedly the final straw causing the teacher to allegedly pick up a metal weight from set of scales and drive it into the boy's head.
"Apparently he ran up behind Jack and got him in a headlock," a classmate was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying.
"He … dragged him into a back storeroom then is said to have hit him on the temple with the weight.
"There was blood everywhere — Mr Harvey had completely lost it and was saying people were going to die."
The teenager was left lying in a pool of blood and taken to hospital with life-threatening head injuries, but his condition is now said to be improving.
Two other students received minor injuries as the class piled on top of Mr Harvey to stop him from further hurting the teenager, the reports claimed.
Internet pages set up after the incident have been flooded with messages offering support for teacher.
"I don't believe for one second he meant to hurt anyone," one wrote.
Another described Mr Harvey as a "legendary teacher" who "would talk to himself a lot" but did not appear to be violent.
Police did not comment on the progress of the investigation other than to say they were still interviewing witnesses.
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