MICHAEL Hamer had suffered at the hands of bullies at St Gabriel's - but speaking after the court case this week, headteacher Eddie Robinson said the matter had been dealt with effectively.

Mr Robinson, headteacher at the school where both Joe Geeling and Hamer were pupils, said the school had done all it could to ensure incidents of bullying were resolved quickly and effectively, working with both the children and parents towards reconciliation.

He hoped the school would now be allowed some closure and "attempt to get back to some sort of normality".

Mr Robinson said: "No school expects to find itself in these circumstances and every school would ask itself if more could have been done to prevent this tragedy.

"As soon as staff became aware that Michael Hamer was being bullied, we dealt with the matter swiftly and effectively at the highest level. St Gabriel's is a caring school and staff take their pastoral responsibilities very seriously."

He said: "Joe was a lovely boy who was described as a bright shining star. He is greatly missed by our school community and in particular by his many close friends.

"Tom and Gwen Geeling have remained close to us throughout this difficult period and our prayers and thoughts continue to be with both families involved in this tragedy."

Speaking about the note Hamer used to lure Joe to his death, Mr Robinson said he had no regrets at the way the situation was handled.

He said: "Joe had carried the note with him through his lessons.

"He was slightly confused about the content and his teacher picked up on that and dealt with it in the most appropriate manner and sent Joe to one of the deputy heads. Joe returned saying yes, he had seen the deputy head and it was sorted out - but then the fire alarm went.

"It was not a planned fire alarm and we had to evacuate the building with more than 1,100 pupils, ensuring the safety of everybody.

"It was straight in then to the last lesson of the day.

"The priority was to evacuate 1,100 and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

"I am confident that all the correct procedures were followed. The content of the note would have been picked up automatically the next day but events overtook us tragically."

Despite no blame being directed towards the school, the case is to be considered by the independent chairman of a multi-agency safeguarding board, made up of all the agencies which work with children and young people in Bury, to decide whether an independent review should take place.

Eleni Ioannides, executive director of children's services for Bury, praised St Gabriel's as a popular school with a strong Catholic ethos but added that, with 20/20 hindsight, they needed to look at whether any lessons could be learned.

She said: "The local authority is satisfied that the school has the welfare of its pupils as paramount and, from the information we have, we believe that the headteacher and his colleagues took appropriate action in this case. We do not believe that it is always possible to foresee and prevent such incidents.

"That said, we need to understand, if possible, what led to the tragedy and if there are any lessons to learn from it."

She added: "I don't think its possible at this stage, bearing in mind that this is the first time when we have heard all of the facts relating to this case, to summarise what that could look like and what could be the outcome."

Martin Lochery, director of education in the Salford Diocese which includes Bury, said: "We have confidence in the school and support its attitude and policies in addressing the welfare of the pupils.

"No one could have anticipated this tragic outcome. However, it is essential that we all understand what led up to this event and an independent review may be the most appropriate way forward.

"It has been a very difficult time for the school and its whole community over the last few months.

"I want to acknowledge the work of Mr Robinson and his team in their support for the pupils and parents.

"I would also like to thank the parents and pupils for their support for their school.

"I would hope that now the police investigation is complete, the school will be given the opportunity to move on and concentrate on providing the best education it can for all their pupils."