Sheffield Crown Court has heard evidence from another teacher at the All Saints Catholic High School <\/p>\n
Tributes to Harvey outside Bramhall LaneAuthor: Dave Higgens, PAPublished 17 hours ago<\/p>\n
A jury has heard a teacher describe how she confronted a pupil waving a knife after he had stabbed a fellow student to death.<\/p>\n
Carolyn Siddall’s pre-recorded video interview was played on Thursday at the trial of a 15-year-old boy accused of murdering Harvey Willgoose, also 15, at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3. <\/p>\n
Ms Siddall told officers how she became aware of a “student disturbance” as the lunch break began. <\/p>\n
She said: “When I turned around there was a boy (the defendant) wearing his school uniform and a thin sort-of waterproof jacket. And, in his right hand, he had a knife which was more black than silver.” <\/p>\n
She said: “He had a stance that was sort-of quite open with his arms, and the knife was very visible.” <\/p>\n
Ms Siddall said her colleague Rachel Hobkirk appeared and there were no other students between the two teachers and the teenager. <\/p>\n
She said: “He was waving the knife. But appeared to be saying ‘I’m not gonna hurt anyone’. <\/p>\n
“So I said to him ‘just put the knife down’. And he waved it more. <\/p>\n
“Rachel said ‘just put the knife down’. And I believe we said that to him several times.” <\/p>\n
Asked about her confrontation with the teenager, Ms Siddall said: “I was not aware of anything he’d done with the knife and he seemed be saying ‘I’m not going to hurt anyone’.” <\/p>\n
She said: “He did sort-of look as though he was listening to us. And that I felt there was a possibility that he might actually put it down.” <\/p>\n
The teacher said that “his body language was a bit sort-of jumpy” and he was “a bit sort-of dancing”. <\/p>\n
She said it was “clear to see that it was a knife” as he made no attempt to conceal it. <\/p>\n
Ms Siddall said the defendant’s words gave her and her colleague “the idea that it was a bit of bravado”. <\/p>\n
She said: “We didn’t know, because we had no idea what had happened previously.” <\/p>\n
And she added: “He didn’t appear at that point to be going to stab either of us. <\/p>\n
“Whilst we thought he might put it down, it was very much in a weapon pose at that time.” <\/p>\n
Ms Siddall said she then noticed the headteacher, Sean Pender, and assistant headteacher, Morgan Davis. <\/p>\n
The jury has heard how Mr Davis got the knife from the defendant and Mr Pender took him to his office. <\/p>\n
Ms Siddall said she began to move children to a safe place, turned round and saw a student on the floor. <\/p>\n
She said: “I opened the doors and could see that there was a lot of blood on the courtyard.” <\/p>\n
The teacher said she radioed for the office to call an ambulance and also asked for a lockdown to be put in place, saying the students “moved very quickly, very efficiently into the nearest rooms”. <\/p>\n
The jury has been shown CCTV footage of Harvey being stabbed in the courtyard. <\/p>\n
The court has heard that the defendant, who cannot be named, has admitted manslaughter but denies murder. <\/p>\n
He has also admitted possession of a knife on school premises. <\/p>\n
Addressing the jury last week, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, said: “(The defendant) did not set out to kill or seriously hurt anyone. <\/p>\n
“The defence say (the defendant’s) actions that day were the end result of a long period of bullying, poor treatment and violence, things that built one upon another until he lost control and did tragically what we’ve all seen.”<\/p>\n