The schoolboy accused of the murder of a 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose claimed he had been followed home and took a knife to school for ‘protection’ – scared he would be jumped
The schoolboy accused of murdering Harvey Willgoose told his head teacher he took a hunting knife to school “for protection,” a court heard.
A video of the police interview given by head teacher at All Saints Catholic High School has been played to the jury at Sheffield crown court.
The accused teenager has denied murdering Harvey, also 15, on Monday February 3rd, 2024 but has admitted manslaughter and possessing a knife.
Sean Pender, 55, gave a video statement to police just hours after the stabbing, finishing his interview just after 9.30pm. He told officers how he was supervising the lunch queue around 12.15pm when he heard a “commotion” and saw a female member of staff running down the corridor.
When he went to investigate he said he saw staff “coaxing” the defendant into giving up a “significant” knife. Mr Pender told officers how at one point he considered picking up a stool to protect them from the armed pupil.
“He was standing with the knife out and not waving it. He was still agitated. He wasn’t making threats…or brandishing.”
After a brief standoff, the defendant, he said, handed over the large black ‘dagger’ to his deputy head.
“I remember thinking that’s quite a significant size. It was almost like a dagger rather than a knife. It might have had a serrated edge, the blades was not silver, it was black and the handle was black.
“I then slowly approached (the defendant) talking to him in my mind to de-escalate any tension, saying I wanted to help him and to ‘come with me.’ I needed him to be calm, I needed him to be compliant.. .
“As (the defendant) came to me I put my arm around his shoulder and walked with him like that with my arm around his shoulder speaking to him back down the corridor heading toward my office.
“The first words he said to me was ‘I’m not right in the head’ and immediately afterward my ‘mum does not look after me right’.
“He was wholly compliant and quite calm but I think himself in a state of shock. The words that he said and the vacant sort of stare. ”
At that stage the head did not know he had fatally stabbed Harvey who had collapsed to the ground in the courtyard after the knife pierced his heart.
He described the accused’s manner as if “realisation was dawning on him, almost numb” when he said ‘I stabbed him’
Mr Pender told how he walked the pupil back to his office. ”I remember thinking this is worrying” and asked him ‘what’s happened?’ and the defendant said ‘‘I stabbed him’ and I said ‘who’ and he said ‘Harvey’. He said he may have also said ‘I need help’.
He sat him down in his office in the chair nearest the door, he explained, locking the door before pulling the blind down. The school had, by that stage, initiated ‘lockdown’ and the siren was going. He said the defendant asked him to lock the door and he explained he already had.
He said the pupil went on to tell him: ‘I’ve got about ten people after me’ and told of being followed home by two people at the weekend. ‘I brought it for my protection in case I got jumped on the way home. I brought it for my protection,’
The head said the boy also claimed he’d had a row with Harvey, who he claimed had pushed him and ‘laughed’ at him, during the lesson before lunch.
“He explained to me that they had had an argument in their lesson prior to lunch. He said something about ‘Harvey just grabbed me so I went out and I went to Mrs Staniforth’, who is his assistant year leader. She advised him to go back to his lesson.’
“He said the defendant then said ‘At lunch time I went up to him and I went to shake his hand and to use his words say ‘my bad.’ I believe he said that he had either pushed him …. And it would appear the reaction to that was that he got the knife out and stabbed him.”
Explaining again to police, he added: “He told me he went to shake his hand because they’d had a row in the class before lunch. ‘I went to shake his hand and say my bad’..,But he was weird about it…I stabbed him…one or twice’.”
The head told police: “He showed me the sheath the knife had been in and passed me that. He asked me if he could call his aunty first. His phone rang once or twice. I said ‘I think it’s best you don’t use your phone and probably best if you give me your phone’. He willingly allowed me to take his phone.
The head seemed emotional as he told how after police arrived and handcuffed the pupil, a member of staff arrived “looking shocked” and told him: “I don’t think Harvey’s going to make it. It doesn’t look good, there’s a lot of blood,”
He described Harvey as a pleasant lad although his attendance at school had been low. “He was never a lad who caused us major issues, not someone we’ve known to get involved in violence in any way, a cheeky chappie…a lovely lad, a good lad, a nice lad.” The head then told how a police officer then told the head: “I’m sorry to tell you Harvey has died.”
The trial continues