Harvey Willgoose’s mum has faced agonising social media posts wrongly claiming her 15-year-old son was a bully. He was stabbed to death by fellow pupil Mohammed Umar Khan, also 15, in Sheffield
The mum of Harvey Willgoose says since the trial hurtful TikTok and social media posts falsely claiming her son was a bully have been “killing” her. She spoke to the Mirror as she calls for ‘bleed control’ kits in all secondary schools, saying it would have saved her son.
Harvey, 15, was murdered by Mohammed Umar Khan, also 15, during their lunch break at All Saints High School in Sheffield. The killer was sentenced last month at Sheffield crown court to life, with a minimum of 15 years detention for murdering Harvey. Khan was also found guilty carrying a hunting knife into his school on February 3rd.
But since then Caroline Willgoose, 51, has been left devastated by social media posts wrongly suggesting her son was a bully. “People are doing TikToks saying he was a bully but he was Umar’s friend, there were three of them, ” she said. “They used to call themselves the Three Amigos. They used to walk to the tram stop together. People are doing TikTok and social media posts about him being racially abused by our Harvey and, and that is killing me more than all because Harvey wasn’t like that.
“They are saying he deserved everything he got because he racially bullied him but he didn’t, he’s not like that. They’ve not got the facts right. It’s so hurtful and he’s not here to defend himself and his friends get upset about it too. I’ve had so many messages from people who say how Harvey helped them. It’s heartbreaking to read the horrible comments.“
During the trial, the jury heard Umar and Harvey had previously been on good terms but fell out over a fight between two other pupils at the same school with each taking opposing sides. Their fallout escalated on to social media chat, snap chat.
“Umar had photos of Harvey on his phone and he had Harvey’s timetable, it was pristine, laid out in his drawer,” Caroline, 51, said. “I think he got that because it was part of Harvey. He was asked ‘why did you have that in your drawer?’ He says, ‘oh he’d left it on a table and I was going to give it back.’
“I think he was a bit in awe of Harvey. He’d also had two photos of Harvey. I think he was obsessed because he’s been bullied all his life by kids and Harvey is well known across the city and popular, everybody liked him, he was funny.”
The mum has told The Mirror how she is prepared to meet her son’s killer – despite him ‘staring her out’ during the murder trial. She spoke to the Mirror as she calls for ‘bleed control’ kits in all secondary schools, saying it would have saved her son.
She said she would be prepared to take part in Restorative justice, which is a voluntary process where people harmed by a crime meet with those responsible, allowing victims to ask questions and offenders to take responsibility for their actions.
Already Harvey’s gran has approached the Killer’s family after sentencing to thank his mum for trying to get help.
“I think my mum felt sorry for the mother because she’s been made a scapegoat and she was the only one that, you know, saw a problem. They blamed her in court, saying she didn’t bring him up right and that is why my mom said; ‘I just want to thank you because you are the only person that saw that there was a problem and you tried to put a stop to it’, which is true. I think she was shocked.”
Caroline said her only concern about meeting Umar in detention, is what his attitude would be like during that meeting, explaining; “I hope it’s the mask of a 15 year old that’s just going through hell but I wouldn’t like to go meet him and have him be cocky with me. But he’s been let down, you know at the end of the day both of them have been let down.”
About meeting him she suspects he may be the one who refuses to meet her, explaining: “I didn’t go to the (public) gallery very often but when I did he always looked a bit shocked. He used to stare at me, to stare me out. I wouldn’t move my head and he would just stare and stare for ages and then he would look down. It was bizarre in court. We were all really close, like his family was sat in front of us all the time and we held doors open for each other. “
Caroline, who is campaigning for bleed kits and knife arches in schools, says her son would still be alive if his school had had one of the kits, designed to quickly stop major bleeding.
“Even in car crashes they are using bleed kits and they are saving lives. I do think schools should have them,” she said.
A person can die within three to five minutes if they are suffering from a catastrophic bleed. It takes seven minutes for an ambulance to respond to a category one emergency.
Suzanne Hedges, mum of Ricky Hayden who was fatally stabbed in 2016, has also been campaigning for bleed kits. She told ITVX: “As a parent I don’t want anyone to go through this because it’s never ending…you can’t stop the grief.”.
Harvey’s mum says the kits cost around £125 each and told The Mirror: “They are supposed to be registered but there’s only two apparently in Sheffield that’s registered but in London there’s thousands. And in this area it has escalated with knife crime.”
She has teamed up with Courtney Barrett, founder of Binning Knives Saves Lives, and Kyle Hotchkins, of Saving Lives With Bleed Kits, on the project to get kits in every secondary school in her city. She says she has also been trying to talk to children in schools about the dangers of knives.
And she told how Harvey’s friends are still coming to the bench outside their home. “I keep coming downstairs and seeing them on the bench outside. Now they are missing him. They don’t want him to be forgotten.”
