"You acted in hurt & anger at perceived betrayal" Harvey Willgoose's murderer told
"You were the aggressor and acted in hurt and anger in what you considered to be his betrayal of your friendship," a judge told a packed courtroom as she sent a teen murderer to custody for murdering a fellow school pupil.
Teenager Mohammed Umar Khan has now been taken into detention for the murder of Harvey Willgoose, the beloved 15-year-old schoolboy, whose life was cruelly and suddenly snatched from him in a school stabbing carried out in full view of his fellow pupils.
Khan, also aged 15, appeared emotionless as he was told he must remain in custody until he is at least 31-years-old.
Khan’s detention at His Majesty’s Pleasure works in the same way as a life sentence, with a minimum term; and a requirement for him to remain on licence for the rest of his life, irrespective of when the Parole Board deem it appropriate for him to be released from custody.
As the judge, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen, fixed the minimum term of Khan’s sentence at 16 years, the court room was utterly silent.
Sending the teen to begin his sentence, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen told Khan: "It's clear Harvey was a popular pupil, whom students and teachers held in affection. Their lives have been blighted by your actions, you've affected them deeply and continue to do so," she added.
She told Khan it was clear Harvey's family struggle to deal with the "unbearable" pain caused by the loss of their beloved boy, referring to the “moving” statement from Harvey’s sister Sophie.
Speaking from the witness box, Sophie said the loss of Harvey has “shattered our lives.”
"At 1.45pm [on February 3, 2025) my mum Caroline, dad Mark and brother Lewis were taken into a room at Sheffield Children's Hospital. Inside there, we were told Harvey had passed away."
"My mum screamed out in pain, my dad collapsed...and Lewis was in shock.
"In that moment, our lives were shattered."
Sophie described her brother Harvey as the "most caring, gentle and lovely young man."
She said he had a "cheeky character and sense of humour."
Those attributes, suggested Sophie, meant that Harvey was the sort of person who people "warmed" to.
"This was not just a crime against my brother, but a crime against all those who loved him," Sophie told the court, adding that Harvey’s absence is felt every single day.
Sophie told the court that in addition to the grief and trauma they feel at the lost of Harvey, they are also struggling to come to terms with the fact he was "murdered in the most inhumane way.”
She also revealed that their granddad, John, fell ill in March, the month after Harvey died. Instead of focusing on his recovery in the months that followed, however, he spent them at court attending Khan's trial.
"Instead of resting or recovering, he came to court daily to seek justice for Harvey," she said.
John sadly passed away last week, Sophie told the court. Caroline - Harvey's mum - has previously described John as Harvey's "best friend."
"The defendant didn't just end Harvey's life, he ended ours," she concluded.
The court has previously been told how the defendant and Harvey had initially been on friendly terms with each other, but subsequently took opposing sides following an incident at the school five days before the killing.
It involved two juveniles, Boy A and Boy B, who were involved in an altercation at the school on January 29, 2025.
Jurors heard how a scuffle took place, with the defendant becoming involved later on. The school was sent into lockdown after the defendant claimed he had seen Boy A with a knife, the jury has heard.
Boy A was subsequently searched, whilst still on school premises, but no such weapon was ever found.
Neither Harvey or the defendant attended school on the two school days which followed, but the pair subsequently became embroiled in a social media spat over the course of that weekend.
It continued through to the morning of February 3, 2025 - the day of Harvey's death.
During the course of the day, Khan could be seen attempting to “provoke” Harvey in the corridor of the school, pushing into him, with the boys squaring up to each other in a science lesson.
The final, and fatal, encounter took place in the courtyard of the school, a few moments into the lunchtime break.
“Once in the courtyard, you saw Harvey walking towards you…it appears Harvey placed his hand on your right arm and said something to you.
“You took the knife you brought to school that day out of your left pocket, passed it to your right hand and stabbed Harvey twice.”
Khan, who was born and raised in Sheffield, was found guilty of murder in August, at the conclusion of a five-week Sheffield Crown Court trial. Both boys were pupils at the school at the time of the fatal stabbing on February 3, 2025.
The jury rejected defence submissions that Khan suffered a “loss of control” at the time of the stabbing, and that he had acted in self-defence, to find him guilty of murder. He admitted Harvey’s manslaughter, along with an additional charge of possessing a bladed article on school premises, prior to the trial beginning.
Mrs Justice Ellenbogen told him: “I’m sure you did not act in any form of self-defence or fear of violence.
“Accepting he may have made some provocative comment or behaved in a hostile way…I’m satisfied it was not at a level that indicated to you Harvey posed any threat at that time.”
Mrs Justice Ellenbogen said she agreed with defence counsel that Khan had not acted with “a significant degree of premeditation” and that he had not come to school that day intending to kill or cause Harvey serious injury.
She added, however: “That’s not to say you acted on the spur of the moment.”
Mrs Justice Ellenbogen said she believed that by the time of the science lesson Khan, formerly of City Road, Sheffield, had made a decision to “use the knife on Harvey” should the need arise.
The families of the two boys were sat side by side in the public gallery located above the court during the sentencing hearing, which concluded a matter of minutes ago.
Mrs Justice Ellenbogen said she had take submissions from defence counsel Gul Nawaz Hussain KC concerning Khan’s difficult and neglectful upbringing, featuring domestic violence, his age, health complaints and the fact he had the mental age of a 14-year-old - a year below his actual age - at the time of the murder into consideration.
Mitigating on Khan’s behalf, Mr Hussain continued: "At the heart of this tragedy is the senseless, needless loss of an innocent life.
"The family of Harvey will have to live with his loss forever more.
"That's something that's not lost on Umar, on his family, or anyone who has dealings with this case, who lives in this city; and indeed, further afield."
Mr Hussain also praised the Willgoose family for the "great deal" of campaigning work they have carried out to raise awareness of the problem at the heart of this case.
That problem, he continued, is the carrying of knives, "often young men."
Mr Hussain acknowledged that Khan did arm himself with a knife on the day of the killing, but told the court "that wasn't with the intention of killing someone that day."
He suggested "giving the impression" of carrying a knife was "prevalent" at All Saints Catholic High School.
Mr Hussain was keen to emphasise that defence counsel don't say the problem "is just at that school, sadly it's a common problem."
Mrs Justice Ellenbogen lifted a reporting restriction protecting Khan’s identity until his 18th birthday earlier in the hearing, following applications from The Star, and others.