A mentally-ill British dual-national has been jailed for 10 years after stabbing a six-year-old boy outside the British International Hastings School in Madrid.

The assault happened in December 2021 when the boy was returning to the school in the Chamartin area of the capital after a PE lesson.

The victim was said to be lucky to have survived the attack by Albal Z, who was born in Kosovo but also has British nationality.

He suffers with paranoid schizophrenia and on the day of the assault, he lost his perception of reality and had a serious decrease in his cognitive ability.

His jail term for attempted murder will initially be served in a psychiatric prison and he was also handed down six years of probation.

He can be held for up to 15 years at the psychiatric centre and will receive periodic checks on whether he can be moved to a conventional jail.

The Madrid court ruled that Albal Z. will be deported once he is released and will be barred from returning to Spain for 10 years.

The judges also ordered that he pay €45,000 in compensation to the victim’s family and pay full legal costs, as well as a ban on any form of communication with the boy for 15 years.

The youngster was walking with teachers and students on a pedestrian crossing when he was suddenly assaulted.

“He attacked him from behind without the child seeing him and being able to react, and using a kitchen knife with a 20 centimetre blade that caused a deep 10 centimetre wound in his neck,” the sentence explains.

Albal Z. ran away from the scene and threw away the knife in a nearby garbage container, where it was discovered by the Policia Nacional.

The boy was hospitalised for four days and after undergoing surgery, he needed 40 days to recover, but has several scars and also suffers from anxiety following the assault.

Before the trial, Albal Z, paid €20,000 to the court, which attacked as a mitigating factor in his final sentence.