Boy found guilty of Harvey Willgoose murder at Sheffield school

A 15-year-old boy has been found guilty of murdering a fellow pupil he stabbed at a school in Sheffield during their lunch break.

Harvey Willgoose, who was also 15, died when he was stabbed in the heart at All Saints Catholic High School on Monday 3 February.

The jury in a month-long trial at Sheffield Crown Court was told that Harvey was attacked following a confrontation between the pair during a lesson earlier that day.

The defendant, who cannot be named due to his age, had admitted manslaughter and possession of a knife but had denied murdering the teenager. He was found guilty by a majority verdict of 11 to one.

Following the verdict, members of Harvey’s family were heard shouting “yes” from the public gallery, followed by tears.

The judge, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen, told the boy he would likely be sentenced in October.

During the trial, jurors heard Harvey had been attacked in the school’s courtyard after the two teenagers had quarrelled over social media in the days beforehand.

They had taken opposite sides in a separate conflict between two other pupils, which led to the school being briefly locked down on 29 January.

Jurors were played CCTV from the day of the stabbing, showing the defendant approach Harvey in the courtyard.

The pair stood for a moment, appearing to talk, before the boy pulled out a knife and stabbed Harvey in the chest, severing a rib in the process.

One girl who gave evidence in the trial said: “People were running, screaming everywhere. It was, like, chaos.”

Another pupil said some students had locked themselves in a cupboard and barricaded the door.

The defendant told jurors he had not intended kill Harvey or cause him serious harm and when asked abut the attack claimed he could not remember what had happened and that he had “snapped” and “lost control” of his actions.

He said he had been bullied and could “get angry quickly”, saying he had experienced racist abuse and taunts on social media about a medical condition.

He said he had also been neglected and suffered physical and emotional abuse at home.

But prosecutors said he “wanted to show he was hard” and “knew exactly what he was doing”, saying he had an “unhealthy interest in weapons” and had looked up “zombie killer knife” and other blades online.

The jury heard the defendant had taken pictures of himself with weapons, including a knife and axe, to warn people to stay away.