Boy tells jury he ordered knife ‘weeks' before stabbing fellow pupil to death
On Wednesday, the boy was asked by Richard Thyne KC, prosecuting, whether it was 'days, weeks or months' before Harvey's death that he ordered the knife online.
The boy said: 'Weeks or months. I'm pretty sure it was weeks.'
He then said he thought it was 'after January 16'.
The jury has heard about an incident in the school on January 16 when the defendant was involved in an altercation with another student and ended up repeatedly punching a wall in an inclusion room.
Mr Thyne asked the boy why he ordered the knife, and he replied: 'For protection'.
The boy admitted he had pictures of 'lots of different kinds of knives' on his phone and the prosecutor asked him why he chose that particular weapon.
The defendant told the jury: 'Because it was a scary knife.
'Somebody would try and attack me and I would pull it out and they wouldn't try and attack me.'
Mr Thyne asked him about a number of photos on his phone of him with this particular knife.
The boy said he posted two of them on social media.
The prosecutor asked: 'To send a message out you weren't to be messed with?'
The boy agreed and said he wanted some people to believe he carried a knife.
Asked by Mr Thyne if he wanted some people to believe he was prepared to use the knife, the defendant told the jury: 'No. Not really. But, if they saw I had a knife, they wouldn't really want to mess with me.'
The jury at Sheffield Crown Court has been shown CCTV footage of Harvey being stabbed in a courtyard at the school at lunchtime on February 3.
The court has heard that the defendant, who cannot be named, has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.
He has also admitted possession of a knife on school premises.
On Wednesday, the boy was asked by Mr Thyne: 'Had you tried to provoke him (Harvey)?'
When the defendant said 'no', Mr Thyne asked him: 'Had you tried to wind him up earlier in the day?'
The boy replied: 'No, it was the other way around.'
Mr Thyne then asked: 'Were you trying to get Harvey to do something to you so you could let out your anger?'
Again the boy replied 'no'.
The defendant told the jury how he also bought another knife online, which was based on a design from the video game Assassin's Creed.
Mr Thyne said: 'Did you have a reputation for having an interest in knives?'
Th boy said: 'Not really.'
He added: 'That's not what I'm known for.'
Addressing the jury at the beginning of the trial, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, said: '(The defendant) did not set out to kill or seriously hurt anyone.
'The defence say (the defendant's) 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 defendant will continue to give evidence on Thursday.
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a day ago
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Jury retires in trial of 15-year-old boy accused of murdering student in school
The jury has gone out to begin its deliberations in the trial of a 15-year-old boy accused of murdering teenager Harvey Willgoose in a Sheffield secondary school. The defendant, who cannot be named, has admitted the manslaughter of Harvey, also 15, who was stabbed to death at All Saints Catholic High School on February 3. The boy denies murder and has been on trial for the last month. On Tuesday, judge Mrs Justice Ellenbogen completed her summing-up of the case and sent out the jury of four men and eight women to start its deliberations. The stabbing of Harvey by the boy in a courtyard during the school's lunch break was captured on CCTV and the footage has been viewed by jurors multiple times. It shows how he was stabbed twice and the court has heard how one of these blows cut through one of his ribs and pierced his heart. Jurors heard how immediately after the stabbing the defendant told All Saints' headteacher Sean Pender: 'I'm not right in the head. My mum doesn't look after me right.' The boy told the jury from the witness box that this was not right and he had said 'my head's not right' to Mr Pender. 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 court heard. The jury was told how Harvey and the defendant fell out following an incident in the school five days before the fatal stabbing on January 29. On that day, the defendant 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 the defendant fell out on social media, with each siding with a different boy involved in the lockdown incident. When the defendant returned to school in Monday February 3, he was asked by Mr Davis whether he had anything he should not, but he said he did not. The jury has heard about a series of encounters between Harvey and the defendant 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. Richard Thyne KC, prosecuting, told jurors: '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.' 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 KC 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.'
Glasgow Times
a day ago
- Glasgow Times
Jury retires in trial of 15-year-old boy accused of murdering student in school
The defendant, who cannot be named, has admitted the manslaughter of Harvey, also 15, who was stabbed to death at All Saints Catholic High School on February 3. The boy denies murder and has been on trial for the last month. On Tuesday, judge Mrs Justice Ellenbogen completed her summing-up of the case and sent out the jury of four men and eight women to start its deliberations. The stabbing of Harvey by the boy in a courtyard during the school's lunch break was captured on CCTV and the footage has been viewed by jurors multiple times. Harvey Willgoose was stabbed to death at his school in February (South Yorkshire Police/PA) It shows how he was stabbed twice and the court has heard how one of these blows cut through one of his ribs and pierced his heart. Jurors heard how immediately after the stabbing the defendant told All Saints' headteacher Sean Pender: 'I'm not right in the head. My mum doesn't look after me right.' The boy told the jury from the witness box that this was not right and he had said 'my head's not right' to Mr Pender. 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 court heard. The jury was told how Harvey and the defendant fell out following an incident in the school five days before the fatal stabbing on January 29. On that day, the defendant 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 the defendant fell out on social media, with each siding with a different boy involved in the lockdown incident. When the defendant returned to school in Monday February 3, he was asked by Mr Davis whether he had anything he should not, but he said he did not. The jury has heard about a series of encounters between Harvey and the defendant 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. Richard Thyne KC, prosecuting, told jurors: '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.' 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 KC 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.'
Western Telegraph
a day ago
- Western Telegraph
Jury retires in trial of 15-year-old boy accused of murdering student in school
The defendant, who cannot be named, has admitted the manslaughter of Harvey, also 15, who was stabbed to death at All Saints Catholic High School on February 3. The boy denies murder and has been on trial for the last month. On Tuesday, judge Mrs Justice Ellenbogen completed her summing-up of the case and sent out the jury of four men and eight women to start its deliberations. The stabbing of Harvey by the boy in a courtyard during the school's lunch break was captured on CCTV and the footage has been viewed by jurors multiple times. Harvey Willgoose was stabbed to death at his school in February (South Yorkshire Police/PA) It shows how he was stabbed twice and the court has heard how one of these blows cut through one of his ribs and pierced his heart. Jurors heard how immediately after the stabbing the defendant told All Saints' headteacher Sean Pender: 'I'm not right in the head. My mum doesn't look after me right.' The boy told the jury from the witness box that this was not right and he had said 'my head's not right' to Mr Pender. 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 court heard. The jury was told how Harvey and the defendant fell out following an incident in the school five days before the fatal stabbing on January 29. On that day, the defendant 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 the defendant fell out on social media, with each siding with a different boy involved in the lockdown incident. When the defendant returned to school in Monday February 3, he was asked by Mr Davis whether he had anything he should not, but he said he did not. The jury has heard about a series of encounters between Harvey and the defendant 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. Richard Thyne KC, prosecuting, told jurors: '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.' 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 KC 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.'
