Nurse who bore machete blows to save children vows to return to work

Nursery nurse Lisa Potts - praised by the judge for her heroism in saving the children of St Luke's School from Horrett Campbell's onslaught - is adamant that she will return to work.

Miss Potts, 21, still undergoing occupational therapy for the severed hand tendons she suffered, grabbed children from the reach of Campbell or hid them beneath her skirts, bearing the brunt of his brutal blows herself.

Mr Justice Sedley told the jury that he would be recommending some formal recognition for Miss Potts's bravery. "You may be thinking that Lisa Potts deserves more formal recognition. I think so too. I shall be talking what steps I can to ensure that is considered."

Miss Potts's courage was also by Mr Richard Wakerley QC, prosecuting. "You may well feel astonished by the courage of that young girl, as she could so easily have shut that door, gone further inside to find help. She completely, you may think, disregarded her own safety. But for her action this tragedy could have been so much worse."

But Miss Potts, who also suffered deep stab wounds to her back and a broken arm, said she was overwhelmed by the support and good wishes she received after the attack.

"I don't feel brave," she added. "I don't think I'm an angel - I was just doing my job. I was just protecting the children. It was the right thing to do. I don't think I'm special."

In a recent interview, Miss Potts, who had worked at St Luke's for 18 months, told how she was coming to terms with Campbell's savagery. "It has been pretty hard for me. Some days I am up in the air, but other days I am pretty laid down," she said.

"Sometimes, particularly when I stand up in front of a lot of people, because it's such a happy occasion I think of someone coming in and killing me because the day the attack happened was happy. But I went into school recently and one child said, `We've missed you, Miss Potts' - and that's what it's all about."