NO-ONE can fail to be moved by the words of Tanya Cooper after yesterday’s inquest into her son’s death.

She sent him to school, as was her duty. But Kyle Rees did not come home because the school, its head and staff failed in their duty.

Mrs Cooper will probably take no comfort from the outcome of the inquest or from the words of Portchester’s executive headteacher, Debbie Godfrey-Phaure. It is to the school’s discredit that her statement makes no mention of the sometimes chaotic and disorderly environment that was so clearly outlined by some teachers. Parents of other pupils will have been dismayed by what they have read and heard from the inquest.

The credit in this tragedy belongs to Mrs Cooper and her family for their dignity in the most awful circumstances and to Kyle’s friends who have raised money for Southampton Hospital by selling wristbands in his memory. They have all been let down by a shameful failure