LONDON, (AFP) – A 16-year-old schoolboy was jailed for at least 20 years on Monday for stabbing a teacher to death in front of her class in a murder that shocked Britain.

Will Cornick was 15 when he stabbed popular teacher Ann Maguire seven times with a kitchen knife as she taught a Spanish class at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds, northern England, in April.

After attacking her, he sat back down at his desk and said: “Good times” as his horrified classmates looked on, prosecutor Paul Greaney told Leeds Crown Court.

Cornick had previously spoken of his deep hatred of Maguire, a 61-year-old who had been due to retire within months.

Judge Peter Coulson told Leeds Crown Court that the boy’s pride in his actions and lack of remorse were “truly grotesque”.

Coulson jailed him for life, with a minimum of 20 years to be spent behind bars before he can be considered for release on licence. But he added that “it’s quite possible that day may never come”.

Cornick, who pleaded guilty to murder, had spoken of wanting to attack other teachers including a pregnant woman “so as to kill her unborn child”.

His identity was initially kept secret due to a court order which was lifted on Monday.

Cornick was described by fellow pupils and teachers as an academic high achiever from a middle-class family and a quiet loner.

His parents are “at a loss to understand” what their son did, Greaney said.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Maguire’s husband Don spoke of the loss of his “beautiful, vivacious, generous, caring” wife.

“I’m still a dad but cannot help my children understand, cannot help them come to terms, cannot help them lessen the pain…I can no longer be a dad,” he said.