Boy who murdered Harvey Willgoose at school can be named, judge rules
A 15-year-old boy who stabbed fellow pupil Harvey Willgoose to death during a school lunch break can be named, a judge has ruled.
Harvey, 15, was stabbed in the heart by Mohammed Umar Khan, who took a hunting knife to school and attacked the teenager in front of horrified children. Sheffield Crown Court heard how other pupils fled “in fear and panic”, some locking themselves in a school cupboard, after the fatal attack at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3. Harvey’s older sister, Sophie Willgoose, read a victim impact statement to the court at the defendant’s sentencing hearing, in which she said the killer “didn’t just end Harvey’s life, he ended ours too”. Khan was found guilty of murder in August and is due to be sentenced by the trial judge, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen. On Wednesday, the judge agreed to lift an order banning his identification following applications from a number of media organisations, including the PA news agency. She told the court she had to balance the need to fully report a very serious case with the welfare of the defendant, who turns 16 next month. The judge said: “This was a serious crime carried out by one pupil on another on school property with a knife he brought into school. “It was witnessed to varying degrees by other pupils and teachers. “The public will wish to know the identity of those who commit such offences in seeking to understand how it is a child of that age can do so.” Harvey’s parents, Mark and Caroline, were watching from the back row of the public gallery with other family members, including his sister, Sophie. In her statement to the court, Harvey’s sister said her family are “struggling to comprehend the fact that Harvey was murdered in the most cruel and inhumane way”. She said: “This was not just a crime against my brother, it was a crime against all of us who loved him.” Ms Willgoose continued: “The pain will remain with us for the rest of our lives. “We want justice not only for Harvey, but for the family that will carry his loss forever.” Ms Willgoose said the family were made to “endure” and are “haunted daily” by the CCTV footage of the killing because Khan “refused to take any responsibility” for what he had done. The defendant’s family sat on the front row of the gallery, which looks down on the courtroom. Khan was wearing a waterproof black hoodie in the glass-fronted dock and he was flanked by three security guards and an intermediary. The jury in Khan’s trial was shown CCTV footage of the incident which showed how he stabbed Harvey twice. One of these blows cut through one of his ribs and pierced his heart. Jurors heard how Khan told All Saints’ headteacher Sean Pender immediately after the stabbing: “I’m not right in the head. My mum doesn’t look after me right.” The school’s assistant head, Morgan Davis, took the knife off the defendant and heard him say “you know I can’t control it”, which the teacher took to be a reference to his anger issues, given previous incidents of violent behaviour at school. The jury was told how Harvey and Khan fell out following an incident in the school five days before the fatal stabbing, on January 29. On that day, Khan tried to intervene in an altercation involving two other boys and had to be restrained by a teacher. When he claimed one of these boys had a knife, a lockdown was declared and police were called, although no weapon was found. Harvey was not at school that day and stayed off for the rest of the week, texting his dad: “Am not going in that school while people have knives.” Over the weekend before the stabbing, Harvey and Khan fell out on social media, with each siding with a different boy involved in the lockdown incident. When Khan returned to school on Monday February 3, he was asked by Mr Davis whether he had anything he should not and said he did not. The jury has heard about a series of encounters between Harvey and Khan that morning before the defendant pulled out the knife and used it just after the start of the lunch break, which began at 12.10pm. The court was shown images and video found on the defendant’s phone which captured him posing with knives and other weapons, and was told how he had used search terms relating to weapons on the internet. Khan told the court how he decided to carry a knife for protection as he feared other teenagers whom he believed were carrying weapons. His barrister Gul Nawaz Hussain KC told the jury the defendant “snapped” after years of bullying and “an intense period of fear at school”. Since Harvey’s death, his family have campaigned against knife crime, with a particular focus on getting knife-arches into schools. After the defendant was convicted, Harvey’s sister Ms Willgoose said outside court: “Harvey was full of life, warm, funny and caring with a unique ability to bring people together. “He was deeply loved by his family, cherished by his friends, and respected by all who knew him.” She went on to say: “This tragedy has not only devastated our family, but has rippled across the country. People everywhere continue to grieve the loss of our beautiful boy.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub
