Lisa Potts

Lisa Potts GM (married name Webb) is a former nursery teacher. She was injured in July 1996 while protecting children in her St Luke's Primary School class in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England from a machete attack by a man with severe paranoid schizophrenia. Her arm was almost severed in the attack and four children were injured. Potts, who was 21 years old at the time, also suffered severe cuts to her head, back, and both arms. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2006/07/07/lisa_potts_10_years_on_feature.shtml BBC - Lisa Potts ten years on] ] In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II presented Potts with The George Medal for saving the children's lives despite her being injured. Her attacker, Horrett Campbell, was sent to a secure mental hospital indefinitely, and remains there more than a decade after the crimes. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/30883.stm BBC - Nursery nurse honoured for bravery] ]

She suffered severe scarring, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and was awarded £68,000 compensation more than four years after the attack. [cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1156116.stm
title=On this Day 1996: Guilty verdict on school machete attacker] [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/8/newsid_2496000/2496685.stm | title=On this Day 1996: Seven slashed in school machete attack] The level of compensation was widely criticised as inadequate, especially compared to high libel payouts around the same time. Potts subsequently worked as a counsellor and in 2001 started a charity, "Believe To Achieve", based in schools in Wolverhampton. The charity aims to encourage independence and enhance self-esteem in children. [cite web |url=http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page10022.asp| title=Our Nation's Future:Tackling exclusion head-on]

On 11 April 2006, she lent her medal to the people of her home city for display in the Mayor's Parlour. [ [http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/news/2006/news16.htm Wolverhampton History and Heritage Society] ]

Potts published her story as an autobiography entitled "Behind the Smile" in 1998. The foreword was written by Cherie Blair. [Potts, Lisa "Behind the Smile: My story by Lisa Potts" (1989) Hodder & Stoughton, London ISBN 0340721480 ]

Books by Lisa Potts

*"Thank You God: Book of Children's Prayers" (editor) (1997) Hodder Children's Books, London ISBN 0340709812
*"Behind the Smile: My story by Lisa Potts" (1998) Hodder & Stoughton, London ISBN 0340721480
*"Heroes for a Day" (2000) Hodder & Stoughton, London ISBN 034074586X

References