A 15-year-old boy who stabbed another pupil to death with a 13cm hunting knife during their lunch break has been convicted of murder.
Harvey Willgoose, also 15, was killed by a boy outside the All Saints Catholic High School cafeteria in Sheffield on February 3.
The perpetrator, who cannot be named for legal reasons, brought the blade to school and stabbed Harvey twice in his chest.
He admitted manslaughter but denied murder, saying he lost control and could not remember what happened.
Jurors at the city’s crown court were shown ‘shocking’ footage of the incident, which left other pupils fleeing ‘in fear and panic’.
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Today, he was found guilty following a five-week trial, with Harvey’s family heard shouting ‘yes’ as the verdict was read.
He will likely be sentenced in October.
Harvey’s sister Sophie Willgoose said outside the court: ‘On February 3, we did not just lose Harvey, we lost a part of ourselves.’
She added: ‘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.’
Richard Thyne KC, prosecuting, said the stabbing was ‘purposeful aggression, likely explained as an act of retribution, getting back at Harvey for something’.
The two boys fell out several days before the fatal encounter after taking opposite sides in a dispute between two other pupils.
Jurors heard about a series of incidents between the pair that morning before the teen pulled out the knife and used it just after the start of the lunch break, which began at 12.10pm.
They were also shown images and video found on the defendant’s phone, which captured him posing with knives and were told how he had Googled terms related to weapons.
Mr Thyne said: ‘You may think the searches aren’t conducted by someone who has a specific and deep-rooted fear of someone, but by someone who’s become obsessed.’
He told the court the defendant had also researched rage rooms and, just over a week before the fatal stabbing, searched ‘waiting for someone to swing so I can let out my anger’.
Another pupil told the court that Harvey had described to him how the defendant had been acting like he had a knife under his jumper that morning, but the victim thought he was bluffing.
Mr Thyne said: ‘It’s just a tragedy Harvey didn’t realise (the defendant) reaching for, or indicating he had, a knife in (a science lesson), was genuine.’
He added that the other boy was ‘motivated by wanting to show he was hard, sending out a message about who he was, someone not to be messed with’.
The defendant told jurors how he decided to carry a knife for protection as he feared other teenagers he believed were carrying weapons.
His barrister, Gul Nawaz Hussain K,C told the jury that the defendant ‘snapped’ after years of bullying and ‘an intense period of fear at school’.
Mr Hussain told jurors: ‘Tragically, Harvey was a combination of being the final straw that broke (the defendant) and the unintended face of a series of threats of violence and bullying he had suffered in recent months.
‘We say he suffered a loss of control which resulted in horrific and tragic consequences.’
The boy told the court he ‘ordered’ the knife because ‘it was a scary-looking knife and, if I pulled it out, somebody wouldn’t try to pull out theirs’.
During his evidence, Mr Hussain asked him: ‘We know you took a knife to school with you that morning, why?’
The defendant replied: ‘In case anyone tried to pull a knife out on me or try to hurt me.’ Mr Hussain said: “Did you want to start any trouble that day?’
The boy said: ‘No.’
And Mr Hussain asked him: ‘Did you want to hurt anyone that day?’ The boy replied: ‘No.’
Detective Inspector Joe Hackworthy said following the ruling that the trial was ‘a heartbreaking reminder of the devastation knife crime causes in our communities’.
Over the past decade, the number of teens killed with a sharp object has increased by 240%, from 22 to 53, according to The Ben Insella Trust.
Chris Hartley, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ”We remind teenagers that there can be horrendous and serious consequences of carrying knives. It has been proven that if you carry these weapons, you are more likely to use them or be a victim of knife crime.
‘You are putting yourself, other people and your future at risk.’
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