Harvey Willgoose trial: School murder accused posed for photos with knives, hammer & axe before stabbing
A teenage boy accused of a fellow pupil’s murder told jurors he took pictures with knives, an axe and a hammer in the months leading up to the fatal stabbing because he thought ‘anyone who saw them would be scared’ and would not ‘threaten’ or cause him problems.
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.
During the second day of the defendant’s evidence today (Thursday, July 17, 2025), the jury has been shown pictures recovered from the defendant’s phone in which he is seen posing with knives, an axe and a hammer.
The pictures seen by the jury this morning were taken in December 2024 and January 2025, and the majority of them featured knives.
Explaining why he took the pictures, or had someone else take them, the defendant said: “Because I’ve seen other people take photos with knives and nothing is said to them. So I thought if I took pictures with knives nothing would be said to me.”
Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, lead defence counsel, asked the defendant: “What do you mean?”
“Once people see pictures they would be scared of the person,” replied the defendant.
When asked who he wants to be scared of him, the defendant replied by saying ‘people who cause problems for me’.
Mr Hussain asked the defendant what he thought people ‘wouldn’t do if they were scared’.
The defendant responded by saying he thought they wouldn’t ‘threaten’ him or ‘cause problems’.
He went on to say that he got ‘the idea’ to pose with knives from ‘someone’s TikTok’.
Jurors have heard how the defendant wanted to arm himself with a weapon for his ‘protection,’ which he could ‘take out’ in response to others producing a weapon.
“Knew they carried knives so I thought a knife would help…Knew they carried knives and would use them…if they tried to use a knife I knew I could pull one out,” the defendant said.
This followed threats he would be ‘smoked’ and ‘shanked’ - which he took to mean stabbed or punched - from associates of a boy he fought with in the past, the defendant told jurors.
He said the same boy had hurt him ‘quite badly’ after he ‘came from behind and hit me in the head’.
The defendant had reason to believe that those acting on the boy’s behalf - who were a year or two older - would carry them out.
He said this is because the boy had followed through with threats to ‘jump’ him ‘multiple times’.
“What did you think they would do if they saw you had a knife,” asked Mr Hussain.
The defendant replied: “Run away.”
Mr Hussain continued: “If they did pull a knife, you pull a knife out, they run away, is that something you wanted?
“I’d rather they run away than use it.”
The jury were also shown a short video video taken by the defendant, showing his friend chasing him with a knife, whilst 'two young children' are present.
When asked why he took the video, the defendant said: "Because it was a joke between me and him, no-one else has it."
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Mr Hussain asked him: "Looking at it now, do you think it was a good idea to do that whilst there were two young children there?
"No," replied the defendant.
The defendant told jurors he bought an axe from a fellow pupil at All Saints. He claims he had arranged to buy a ‘small knife’ from the pupil, because he felt he needed one for his ‘own protection’.
But when the pupil brought an axe into school instead of a knife, he wound up buying that.
“I already brought the money in, he brought the axe in, I didn’t think he was going to bring the axe I thought he was going to bring something.
“I didn’t want to buy it, I said to him, but he was saying: ‘Oh just buy it, just buy it,’” the defendant told the jury.
The defendant said he never took the axe out, and never intended to use it.
The trial, which may now last up to five weeks, continues.