Days before he was stabbed to death, Harvey Willgoose, 15, had texted his dad to warn him that people at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield had “knives”
A teenager who died after he was stabbed twice with a hunting knife had texted his dad days before saying “people have knives”, a jury heard.
Sheffield United fan Harvey Willgoose, 15, died after he was fatally stabbed in the heart during his lunch break at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield. A teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has gone on trial accused of his murder. The teen, also 15, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a knife but denies murder. It is claimed Harvey and the defendant got into a row on social media, with the court hearing that the teen texted his dad days before he was stabbed saying: “Am not going in that school while people have knives.”
READ MORE: Harvey Willgoose stabbed to death at school by fellow pupil ‘after Snapchat row’
A jury was shown “shocking” footage of the alleged murder, which took place in the school courtyard and left pupils fleeing in “panic and fear”. The defendant is seen taking a knife out of his pocket and stabbing Harvey twice “in the torso”. Harvey at first doesn’t seem to realise he’s been stabbed but collapses to the ground a minute later.
A warning was given before the jury were shown harrowing CCTV of the moment Harvey collapsed to the floor, next to his bloody footprints. After being stabbed, he is seen staggering around, appearing to head indoors before he spots the accused is still inside and armed. Harvey backs away, remaining outside.
He remains in the courtyard where there is a trail of his bloody footprints behind him, then he suddenly falls to the floor, rolling over and clutching his chest while pupils rush to him. Meanwhile, inside, other CCTV footage shows a female staff member trying to calm the defendant down, before he finally relinquishes the knife to another teacher.
The court heard the defendant had an “unhealthy and apparently longstanding interest in weapons”. The pair had previously been on good terms with the defendant even asking to sit next to Harvey in Science classes.
But it was claimed they started arguing on social media after two other pupils were involved in a row the previous week, which led to the school being locked down after claims a knife was involved.
Harvey then sent a message to his dad on the Friday before saying: “Am not going in that school while people have knives.” While the defendant, it was claimed, searched the internet for a prayer to keep him safe that morning.
CCTV showed the defendant pushing Harvey in a corridor, hours before the fatal stabbing on Monday, February 3. Prosecutor Richard Thyne KC told the Jury: “It was just five minutes into the school lunch break, when Harvey Willgoose was stabbed to death…a knife was thrust into his chest, penetrating his heart.
“In less than a minute he had collapsed onto the ground, where he lost consciousness and died. He was 15 years old. The stab wound that killed Harvey was inflicted with such force that the knife cut the bone of one of his ribs. The knife used to cause that wound was a hunting knife with a 13cm, serrated-edged blade…”
After Harvey was stabbed, the court heard the defendant was still “bouncing” and “dancing” around with the knife. As staff disarmed him, he allegedly told a teacher: ‘You know I can’t control it” which the staff member took to be a reference to his “anger issues”. He also allegedly told the head: “I’m not right in the head. My mum doesn’t look after me right. I’ve stabbed him.”
As they waited for the emergency services to arrive, the defendant said he was carrying the knife for protection. Paramedics were on the scene less than 10 minutes after the stabbing but Harvey was not breathing, had no pulse.
“Over the course of the next hour all possible efforts were made to resuscitate him, but it was not possible to save his life. Harvey was formally declared dead at 1.24pm,” the court heard. A post-mortem examination found that the cause of Harvey’s death was a stab wound to his heart.
The court heard later the defendant told police how he’d been racially abused a few weeks earlier and people, including Harvey, had threatened he would be “jumped” at school. Another boy, he claimed, had shouted at him that he would “get stabbed”, resulting in the school lockdown the previous week. Police were called then but no knife was found.
The court heard that the defendant told police about the stabbing: “Harvey came up to me. He said: ‘Do you want beef, I’ll have you this time.’ I tried to shake his hand. He refused to shake it. At that point I felt like he was going to attack me.
“…Without thinking and instinctively I pulled out the knife I had in my pocket and thrust it towards Harvey…At that moment I felt it was me or him, I had to protect myself.” The prosecutor said: “An examination of (the defendant’s) mobile phone showed that the knife he used to stab Harvey was not the first – or only – knife he had possessed.”
And a few months before he stabbed Harvey, the defendant’s own mother had contacted the school about having found an axe in his bag which she handed that over to the police who warned him about the “dangers of carrying weapons”.
The prosecutor added: “The prosecution say this wasn’t manslaughter, this was murder.”
The trial continues.