Muhammed Umar Khan's barrister describes knife crime as 'an epidemic' as Harvey Willgoose's killer is jailed
A barrister who represented Harvey Willgoose’s teenage killer said there is an ‘epidemic’ among young men feeling the need to carry knives.
Earlier this week (October 22), an eight-month-long battle for justice finally came to an end as Harvey Willgoose’s killer was jailed.
The 15-year-old was stabbed at school by Mohammed ‘Umar’ Khan, a fellow All Saints Catholic High School pupil of the same age.
Umar - as he is known - pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder.
This led to a five week trial in which a jury found the teenager - who is said to have grown an obsession with knives - guilty.
This week, the judge in the case, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen, listened to calls by The Star and others to lift reporting restrictions so that the killer could be named.
At Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, she sentenced the teenager killer to life, with a minimum of 16 years to be spent behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
Richard Holland, a barrister who worked alongside Gul Nawaz Hussain KC to represent Umar, has now turned to the social media platform LinkedIn to discuss the case.
He wrote: “I think this has been one of the most challenging cases of my career, not simply from the shocking subject matter - the stabbing and killing of a 15-year-old boy by another 15-year-old at school - but also from the legal issues involved, including successfully persuading the judge to leave loss of control to the jury (who ultimately convicted on a majority verdict), and dealing with highly motivated and professional media organisations who sought (successfully) to name Umar following his conviction.
“The most challenging aspect though was attempting to reconcile the frightened boy I met two days after what happened to the crime he committed, on CCTV, in a packed courtyard in front of school children in what the judge recognised was an action with little premeditation, in what was not a planned encounter, and against someone who used to be his friend.
“The background of racist and other bullying from others during his childhood, and what two psychiatrists found to be significant adverse childhood experiences including neglect at home, has understandably perhaps not made the media reports, but provides some context and which was explicitly recognised by the judge as relevant mitigation.”
Evidence submitted in court found that another child had previously brought a knife onto school grounds, and it was amidst fears around weapon carrying that Umar ended up feeling the need to arm himself.
Harvey’s mum, Caroline, has begun campaigning to introduce knife arches in schools that will help detect anyone carrying weapons.
She has already seen one such arch installed at Penistone Grammar School, however barrister Mr Holland suggests that there is still a culture pushing ‘some young men’ to feel the need to carry knives.
Mr Holland added: “There is an epidemic amongst some young men that they must be seen as ‘hard’ and that if they arm themselves with a knife, that will protect them from trouble or attack. Before leaving for school that day, armed with his hunting knife, Umar searched ‘dua [prayer] to keep safe’.
“By shortly after lunchtime, he was in a police cell, his life and those of Harvey’s family changed forever because of Umar’s choice to arm himself with a knife.
“As a society, we must find a way to stop these tragedies happening.”