Hero teacher back at bloodbath school

The hero teacher of Germany returned to his school today after Friday's gun massacre in which he prevented a deranged ex-pupil from claiming more lives.

Had Rainer Heise not offered himself up for execution, 19-year-old Robert Steinhauser could have added many more victims to the 16 he had already murdered.

The unassuming 60-year-old says he is no hero - but everyone else in the stunned eastern town of Erfurt and beyond says otherwise.

As he confronted Steinhauser outside a classroom at Gutenberg high school, the teenager told him: "That's enough for today, sir."

Mr Heise asked him into the room "to talk", then quickly pushed him inside and locked the door. Steinhauser then shot himself. He is thought to have killed the 13 teachers, two pupils and a policeman in revenge for being expelled.

The town's authorities are today offering counselling to pupils too traumatised to return to school.