Harvey Willgoose’s killer had ‘unhealthy interest in weapons’

A 15-year-old boy who stabbed a fellow student to death at a school in Sheffield had an “unhealthy and apparently longstanding interest in weapons”, a court has been told.

Harvey Willgoose, also 15, was stabbed in the chest at All Saints Catholic High School during lunch break on Monday 3 February.

During the first day of the trial at Sheffield Crown Court, prosecutor Richard Thyne KC told jurors the teenager’s internet search history showed he had looked up “zombie killer knife” and other blades.

The 15-year-old defendant, who cannot be named because of his age, has admitted manslaughter and possession of a knife on school premises but denies murder.

The court was told the defendant’s mother had contacted the school in December 2024 after finding an axe in his bag.

Mr Thyne said: “[He] maintained that he knew nothing about the axe, and he did not know how it had got into his bag.”

Police spoke to him, not to arrest him but to discuss his wellbeing and advised him against carrying weapons, Mr Thyne added.

“Self-evidently, and tragically, however, [he] chose not to heed that advice.

“On Monday 3 February, he searched the internet for a prayer to keep him safe, and selected the hunting knife to take into school with him, carefully concealed but readily available to use.”

Jurors were earlier told how both boys had “had been on good terms” until an argument on social media on the weekend of 1 and 2 February.

It was sparked by an argument between two other boys, on 29 January.

The school went into lockdown after the defendant said he had seen one of the two boys with a knife, but police who attended did not find a weapon.

The prosecutor said the defendant did not go to school the following two days and a relative contacted the school to say he was scared of going “because of the lockdown”.

Mr Thyne said Harvey, who had frequently been absent from school, did not attend either and had sent a text message to his father which said “am not going in that school while people have knives”.

The court was told the earlier incident led to Harvey and the defendant falling out in a Snapchat group, with each siding with one of the boys involved in the initial dispute.

The court was then told about interactions between the two boys in the morning leading up to the fatal attack with one witness describing them as “pushing one another” in the school corridor.

Jurors were shown footage of the accused and Harvey separately making their way to the school’s central courtyard for their lunch break.

Mr Thyne said the prosecution case is that the CCTV shows Harvey appearing to put his left hand on the defendant’s right arm before the defendant “takes a knife out of his left pocket, passes it across into his right hand, and then stabs twice at Harvey’s torso”.

He said the defendant then advances towards Harvey, who backs away across the courtyard, before the defendant “returns towards where the incident began, gesturing towards Harvey with his knife, and appearing to shout at Harvey”.

Mr Thyne said within less than a minute of being stabbed, Harvey collapsed to the ground.

The court heard how “other pupils fled in fear and panic” as the defendant went into the dining hall still holding the weapon.

The prosecutor said headteacher Sean Pender reached the dining room and told the defendant to hand over the knife, to which he replied “you know I can’t control it”.

“I’m not right in the head. My mum doesn’t look after me right. I’ve stabbed him.”

Afterwards, the boy told Mr Pender he had been “carrying the knife for protection”.

Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, said the boy’s actions were the result of a long history of “bullying, poor treatment and violence”.

He added: “[He] did not set out to kill or previously hurt anyone.

“Things that built one on top of another until he lost control and did, tragically, what you have all seen.”

The trial continues.