Harvey Willgoose trial: Murder accused falsely claimed he had been "caught with a knife" at previous school
A teenage boy accused of murdering a fellow pupil falsely claimed to have been “caught with a knife” at a previous school, in a conversation with a teacher which occurred around a fortnight before the fatal stabbing.
15-year-old Harvey Willgoose was stabbed in the heart in the courtyard of All Saints School a few minutes into the lunch break on February 3, 2025. He collapsed less than a minute later, and died a short time after that.
A teenage boy has been on trial at Sheffield Crown Court for the last three weeks accused of Harvey’s murder, which he denies.
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has admitted to carrying out the stabbing, to Harvey’s manslaughter and to possessing a bladed article on school premises.
The jury were today (Tuesday, July 15, 2025) read a number of statements, including one from Craig Haslingden, a curriculum leader at the school who also teaches P.E.
During a P.E lesson in January 2025, Mr Haslingden said the defendant told him: “I was caught with a knife,” and explained it related to an incident at his previous school.
“‘I was caught with a knife’. Those were his exact words,” Mr Haslingden said in his statement, which was read to the jury by junior prosecution counsel, Gordon Stables.
Mr Haslingden confirmed there were other pupils “within earshot” when the defendant made the claim.
Mr Stables told the jury, however, that “there is nothing whatsoever” within records obtained from the school previously attended by the defendant to “support this” or to “suggest there is any truth in it.”
A statement from Alec Huxley, Director of Science at All Saints School, was also read to the jury of eight women and four men.
Get the best news and analysis from Sheffield’s courts with our new newsletter - subscribe today
In it, Mr Huxley described a behaviour change in the defendant in around mid-October of 2024.
He suggested the defendant “seemed hyperactive,” was “unable to sit still,” and started “repeatedly telling lies and winding other students up.”
Mr Huxley said he felt it necessary to mention the “significant change” in the defendant’s behaviour during a parents’ evening held in December 2024.
He said that prior to that “change” in the defendant’s behaviour, the teen was observed as having engaged in work and did not have “any behavioural issues” of note.
Richard Thyne KC, lead prosecution counsel, told the jury this afternoon they have now heard all of the evidence to be submitted on behalf of the Crown.
The defence case is now set to begin tomorrow (Thursday, July 16, 2025).
The trial was opened on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, with an initial time estimate of four weeks.
The judge, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen DBE, discussed with jurors the possibility of the trial now running into the week ending Friday, August 8, 2025, ahead of sending them home for the day.
The trial continues.