The teen accused of murdering Harvey Willgoose told a court he was ‘out of control’ and does not remember stabbing him, claiming he feared he was going to be attacked himself
The teen accused of murdering another boy during a school lunch break told a jury he was “out of control” and doesn’t remember stabbing his classmate.
The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of murdering Harvey Willgoose on February 3.
Harvey had been chatting to pals at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield, South Yorkshire before he was stabbed in the chest as he stood in the school courtyard.
At Sheffield crown court on Tuesday the accused told the jury how moments before the stabbing: “I pulled out a knife. I was out of control in myself. I couldn’t control my emotions or what I was doing.” The court heard the accused “felt it was me or him” and claimed it was “self defence.”
He was shown the footage of the moment he stabbed Harvey and was asked by his defence barrister, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC: “Can you remember stabbing Harvey?” to which he replied “no”.
The jury was told it was not the first time the accused had taken a knife into school, as the court was shown a picture of him posing with it in the school grounds.
The accused admits manslaughter and possession of a knife but denies murder.
He told the court on Tuesday he feared Harvey was going to stab him after he’d threatened: “I’ll do you in and I’ll do you in proper this time.”
The accused told the court: “I lost control of myself, I didn’t mean to stab him, I didn’t want to stab him.” He claimed the moments before he stabbed Harvey: “I saw him in the corner of my eye coming towards me. He looked angry as if he was going to do something. He had one hand out and one hand a bit in his trousers, like waistline.
“I thought he had a knife on him. He said ‘what’s your problem in Science?’” The accused said he told Harvey: “‘My bad, just shake my hand’.”
The boy’s barrister asked him what ‘my bad’ means, and he replied: “It means sorry.” He was asked why he’d said sorry if he hadn’t been the one in the wrong, as he’d earlier claimed Harvey had grabbed his shirt during that lesson.
“I said just shake my hand. If I said sorry to him and shook his hand I don’t think anything would have happened.” He claimed Harvey told him: ‘No, f**k off!’, describing Harvey as having raised his voice.
“He said it angrily, like trying to get me scared. He looked mad. He said it as he pushed me. He squeezed my shoulder and pushed it back,” he told the court.
He claimed Harvey loudly told him: “I’ll do you in and I’ll do you in proper this time’.” He said Harvey said this angrily and told the court he thought that meant he was going to stab him because of “what happened in Science”.
He was asked: “How badly did you think you were going to be hurt?” to which he replied “very badly”.
Part of his statement to police was read to the court, which said: “At that point I felt like he was going to attack me…I did this in self defence. It was not my intention to cause him serious harm at that moment I felt it was me or him. I had to protect myself.”
The court heard after the stabbing he then “dropped” the knife in his teacher’s hand and told them: “You know I can’t control it.” When asked about this comment, he told the court: “I didn’t mean my anger, I mean myself.”
Asked when he realised when he’d stabbed Harvey, he told the court: “I realised when Mr Pender [his head teacher] put his arm around me.” He described feeling “upset, scared and shocked”. He only realised he’d been “very badly” hurt “when the police came and arrested me. I didn’t think he was hurt badly.”
He told the jury he had not wanted that to happen. and asked how he feels now, he said: “I feel bad and regret.”
Asked what he was thinking before he stabbed Harvey, he said he was thinking about the “week before on the lockdown” when he thought another classmate had a knife, and added he was also thinking about how “I had been bullied for so long”.
Under cross examination, he was asked if he meant to stab Harvey and he said “no” and when asked what he was thinking at the time, said: “I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t really in control of myself, so I wasn’t really thinking anything.”
Asked how he feels now, he said: “I feel bad and regret”. And when asked how this has affected his Harvey’s family, he replied: “Yeah, I feel sorry.”
The court has heard previously how the accused told his head teacher after twice stabbing Harvey: “I’m not right in the head. My mum doesn’t look after me right. I’ve stabbed him.”
Harvey took 49 seconds to collapse after being stabbed with “severe force” by a 13cm hunting knife, the jury heard. The trial continues.