Lisa Potts

Lisa Potts GM (married name Webb) is a former nursery teacher noted for saving school children's lives from a machete attack by a man with severe paranoid schizophrenia on 8 July 1996 at St Luke's Primary School in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. Her arm was almost severed in the attack, in which four children were also injured. Potts, who was 21 years old at the time, also suffered severe cuts to her head, back, and to both arms. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II presented Potts with the George Medal. Her attacker, Horrett Campbell, was sentenced to indefinite detention in a secure mental hospital.

Potts suffered severe scarring, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She was awarded £68,000 compensation more than four years after the attack. The compensation was widely criticised as inadequate, especially by comparison with high libel awards. Potts subsequently worked as a counsellor and, in 2001, founded a charity, Believe To Achieve, based in schools in Wolverhampton. The charity aims to encourage independence and to increase self-esteem in children.

Potts published an autobiography entitled Behind the Smile in 1998. A foreword was contributed by Cherie Blair.

Books by Lisa Potts

• Thank You God: Book of Children's Prayers (editor) (1997) Hodder Children's Books, London ISBN 0-340-70981-2
• Behind the Smile: My story by Lisa Potts (1998) Hodder & Stoughton, London ISBN 0-340-72148-0
• Heroes for a Day (2000) Hodder & Stoughton, London ISBN 0-340-74586-X