Girl saw teen ‘lifeless and covered in blood’

A teenager saw a fellow pupil “lifeless and covered in blood” after he was fatally stabbed at a school in Sheffield, a court has heard.

Harvey Willgoose, 15, died after he was attacked at All Saints Catholic High School in February.

Earlier, jurors at the trial of a 15-year-old boy accused of Harvey’s murder heard a witness describe seeing the defendant holding a knife before she said she ran away fearing he could “turn around and do it to someone else”.

The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, has admitted manslaughter and bringing a knife onto school premises but denies murder.

In the pre-recorded interview, the witness said she was inside the school when she heard a commotion outside and, “like normal teenagers”, she and her friend went to see what was happening.

She told officers: “I heard everyone screaming and shouting.

“I just saw Harvey pale and lifeless, covered in blood.

“I saw the blood on the shirt. The shirt was covered.”

The girl said the defendant was holding a knife and shouting: “Come on, come on, what now?”

She described how the defendant, who was about 2m (6ft) away from her, seemed “really mad”.

Asked how she was feeling at this point, the witness said: “I was really scared.

“But I was thinking ‘if he’s able to do that to him while he was mad, he could just turn around and do it to someone else’.”

She explained how she became concerned for a younger pupil, saying she told her: “Run, he’s got a knife, he’s just stabbed somebody.”

The girl said she then “grabbed” the younger girl and ran.

Jurors have seen CCTV footage of Harvey being stabbed twice in a courtyard at the school at the start of the lunch break on Monday 3 February.

Earlier, the teenage girl was asked about an incident five days before the fatal stabbing, when the school went into lockdown.

The court heard two members of staff physically intervened in a fight between two other students and the defendant had to be restrained as he tried to get involved.

The jury has been told it was the defendant’s claim that one boy had a knife that led the school to go into lockdown, although the police who responded never found a weapon.

Harvey was not in school that day.

The girl told the court how she discussed the incident with the defendant on Snapchat on the day it happened.

She also said the boy told her that he punched a teacher, sending her a video of his injured knuckles, and said he pulled out a knife during the incident.

Addressing the jury last week, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, said: “The defendant did not set out to kill or seriously hurt anyone.”

He added: “The defence say his actions that day were the end result of a long period of bullying, poor treatment and violence, things that built one upon another until he lost control and did tragically what we’ve all seen.”

The trial continues.

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