Harvey Willgoose murder accused took 'scary' knife to school over fears he'd be 'jumped or stabbed,' jury told
The teenage boy accused of murdering fellow pupil Harvey Willgoose says he took a ‘scary looking knife’ to school on the day of the fatal incident, after receiving messages which led him to believe he would be ‘jumped or stabbed’.
The defendant went on to stab 15-year-old Harvey in the heart just under four hours after the school day began at All Saints School.
He has taken responsibility for the stabbing, through his guilty plea to manslaughter, but denies murdering Harvey during the incident on February 3, 2025.
“You’ve accepted you took a knife to school, where did you get that knife from," Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, lead defence counsel, asked the defendant during the third day of his evidence to the jury.
Replied the defendant: "I think I ordered it."
"Why did you order that specific knife?"
The defendant replied: "Because it’s a scary looking knife and if I pulled it out then they wouldn’t pull theirs."
Asked Mr Hussain: "You wanted a scary looking knife?"
The defendant replied: "Yeah."
"Did you want to use it," asked Mr Hussain.
The defendant replied: "No."
Mr Hussain continued: "You’ve told us about what kind of things you were scared of, did you think anyone was just going to have a fair one on one fight with you?"
Replied the defendant: "No."
"If someone wanted a fair one on one fight with you, would you have pulled the knife out," asked Mr Hussain, to which the defendant replied: "No."
Mr Hussain continued: "Did you want to have a fair one on one fight with anyone?"
He replied: "No."
Earlier in his evidence today (Friday, July 18, 2025), the defendant said he had exchanged Snapchat messages with Harvey in the weekend leading up to the incident, which had led him to feel ‘worried’ he would be badly hurt during the school day.
The defendant claimed he and Harvey had taken opposite sides following a lockdown incident at All Saints the previous week.
During the course of the messages exchanged - some of which police have not been able to retrieve - the defendant said Harvey told him that if he had a ‘problem’ with those on Harvey’s side, he could come to Harvey’s address and he would ‘deal with it, simple’.
He also said Harvey had sent him a voice note in which he said two other males with violent reputations needed to ‘hear about’ the dispute, and told him: ‘You know my boys are on it’.
The defendant told jurors he did not want to go to school on the day of the killing, because he thought he would get 'stabbed or hurt,' but his dad made him.
Mr Hussain asked the defendant how badly hurt he thought he would get if he went to school.
The defendant replied: "Quite bad…don’t know but probably could have got sent to hospital."
“Using the 1-10 scale, how scared were you that something could happen to you,” continued Mr Hussain.
The defendant replied: “Like nine.”
“What kind of things did you think could happen to you,” he asked, to which the defendant replied: “Like jumped or stabbed.”
Jurors heard how Harvey and the defendant talked about having ‘beef’ with each other in messages sent in the hours before the school day began.
That conversation continued between the pair in a school corridor as the defendant was filling out a statement about the lockdown incident, the jury have been told.
The defendant said he replied to Harvey’s question of ‘is it beef with me and you’ by saying ‘nah, why do you think I have beef with you’.
Following that interaction, the defendant says he and Harvey subsequently began ‘joking’ with each other about boxing.
They concluded their conversation by ‘shaking hands,’ the defendant said, leading him to think things were ‘alright’ between them.
Mr Hussain asked the defendant how worried he was feeling following that interaction, on a scale of 1-10.
"One," replied the defendant.
Later that day, during an incident in a school courtyard, the defendant stabbed Harvey twice, with the fatal wound penetrating his heart.
The defendant is set to continue with his evidence this afternoon.
The trial continues.