Three boys aged 11, 12 and 13 broke into a primary school in southern China where they killed the lone teacher, stole her mobile phone and £200, then left with bread and other items from the school shop.
The trio were arrested on Monday, a day after their fatal attack on the teacher in a village near Lianqiao town in Hunan, the home province of Chairman Mao, state media reported on Tuesday.
After playing online at an internet café, they climbed into the school, which they did not attend, to find its sole guardian was a 52 year-old female teacher. They beat her with wooden sticks, and dragged her to a bathroom, where they stuffed a cloth into her mouth, and she later died, reported the Beijing News, a popular tabloid in the Chinese capital.
A police officer confirmed the case without giving details, said the Associated Press. Hunting for motivation, some posters on Chinese social media sites suggested the boys were “left-behind” children, whose parents have left rural areas, and their offspring, to work in China’s fast growing cities.
China’s cities restrict school access for the children of rural migrants, so many remain at home with inadequate care by aged grandparents - or no guardians at all - and are vulnerable to depression, suicide and abuse.