An 11-year-old boy told a court he "accidentally" stabbed his friend after stealing craft knives from a school art room.

He stabbed the other boy, also 11, in the left thigh while they were on a bus going home from a school in Abingdon, on November 15 last year.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told Didcot Youth Court on March 11 that he was carrying one of the knives up his left sleeve when he "tapped" his friend on his leg to get his attention.

He said he had wanted to show him one of the knives he had stolen from an art class earlier in the day.

The boy said: "I was looking for (friend's name) and people told me he was at the bottom of the bus, but I knew he wasn't. I saw him crouched on the floor and he ignored me when I said his name. I tapped him and he didn't listen, so I tapped him again hard. I heard him scream and saw blood. (Friend's name) shouted for the bus to stop and I shouted for the bus to stop as well."

He added: "I never meant to do it. It was an accident."

The bus driver stopped on the A415, near Culham, and called 999. The victim was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford, where his wound was stitched.

Police arrested the 11-year-old and found the knife still up his sleeve. Another boy, who had the other knife, was held, but was not charged.

Karen Cushing, prosecuting, said the boy had taken two red-handled "scalpel-like" craft knives from an art teacher's drawer.

The teacher had seen the boy at her desk and he apologised when she asked him what he was doing.

Ms Cushing said: "She thought nothing more of it until the next day when she heard about the incident on the bus. She checked and two of the knives were missing."

The boy admitted wounding. The court accepted his actions had been reckless rather than mali- cious.

Simon Graham-Harrison, defending, said the boy had been expelled from the school because of the incident and was now at another school.

He had been shunned by friends and his family was "extremely distressed".

His father told the court he was still friends with the victim's father and both families wanted their lives to return to normal.

The boy was sentenced to a six-month referral order with the Youth Offending Team and ordered to pay £50 compensation to the injured boy and £25 in costs.

Afterwards, the new headteacher of the school concerned, who took on the position in January, said that since the incident the school had reviewed the way equipment, such as craft knives, was stored and had brought in new procedures.