Lisa Potts

Lisa Webb
GM
Born
Lisa Potts

Wolverhampton, England
OccupationFormer nursery teacher
Known forDefending children in her care from a machete attack

Lisa Webb GM (née Potts) is a former nursery teacher. On 8 July 1996, her class at St Luke's Primary School in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, England, was attacked by a man with severe paranoid schizophrenia wielding a machete.

Potts' arm was almost severed in the attack, in which four children were also injured. Potts, who was 21 years old at the time, also suffered severe cuts to her head, back, and to both arms.[1] In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II presented Potts with the George Medal.[2] Her attacker, Horrett Campbell, was sentenced to indefinite detention in a secure mental hospital.[3]

Potts suffered severe scarring, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She was awarded £68,000 compensation more than four years after the attack.[4][5] The compensation was widely criticised as inadequate, especially by comparison with high libel awards.[citation needed] Potts subsequently worked as a counsellor and, in 2001, founded a charity, Believe To Achieve, based in schools in Wolverhampton. The charity aims to encourage independence and to increase self-esteem in children.[6]

Potts published an autobiography entitled Behind the Smile in 1998. A foreword was contributed by Cherie Blair.[7] Potts went on to study a degree in counselling in 2004. In 2010 she retrained as a nurse at Wolverhampton University and then went on to become a specialist public health nurse.[8]

Earlier in 2022 Potts was made the first Freewoman of the City of Wolverhampton. On 24 July 2022, she participated in the Queen's Baton Relay marking the 2022 Commonwealth Games when it visited Wolverhampton.[9]

  1. ^ McCarthy, Jules (7 July 2006). "Lisa Potts: ten years on". bbc.co.uk. BBC Birmingham. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Nursery nurse honoured for bravery". bbc.co.uk. BBC News. 13 November 1997. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Machete man sent to secure mental hospital". The Independent. London. 8 March 1997. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  4. ^ "On this Day 1996: Guilty verdict on school machete attacker". BBC News. 6 February 2001. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  5. ^ "On this Day 1996: Seven slashed in school machete attack". BBC News. 8 July 1996. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  6. ^ "Our Nation's Future:Tackling exclusion head-on". Archived from the original on 29 June 2007.
  7. ^ Potts, Lisa Behind the Smile: My story by Lisa Potts (1998) Hodder & Stoughton, London ISBN 0-340-72148-0
  8. ^ Woods, Rebecca (5 July 2016). "Injured nurse 'forgives' machete attacker". BBC News. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  9. ^ "The Queen's Baton Relay (sub-story Hero teacher in baton honour for city leg of relay". Shropshire Star. 20 July 2022. p. 7.At time of the report going to press the Baton was due to arrive in Wolverhampton on Sunday 24 June 2022.