A schoolboy who stabbed a fellow pupil to death on their lunch break \u201cwanted to show he was hard\u201d and had become \u201cobsessed\u201d with weapons in the weeks before the killing, prosecutors have told a jury.<\/p>\n
The 15-year-old is on trial accused of murdering Harvey Willgoose, also 15, who was killed at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3.<\/p>\n
The defendant, who cannot be named, has admitted manslaughter but denies murder, saying he lost control and does not remember what happened.<\/p>\n
Harvey Willgoose was killed in the incident at his school in February (South Yorkshire Police\/PA)<\/p>\n
Giving his closing speech to jurors on Thursday, prosecutor Richard Thyne KC said the stabbing was \u201cpurposeful aggression, likely explained as an act of retribution, getting back at Harvey for something\u201d.<\/p>\n
The trial has heard the two boys fell out several days before Harvey\u2019s death after taking opposite sides in a dispute between two other boys.<\/p>\n
Mr Thyne said the defendant had ordered the hunting knife he used to kill Harvey before that incident, and was someone with an \u201cunhealthy interest in weapons\u201d who had talked about \u201cshanking\u201d someone when he was 13 years old.<\/p>\n
He told jurors the defendant had posted videos on social media with weapons, which he admitted posting because he \u201cwanted some people to know he carried a knife\u201d and \u201cwasn\u2019t someone to be messed with\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Thyne said the boy\u2019s internet searches showed \u201cnot just someone with a growing fascination with weapons, but someone who really wanted to own them\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cYou may think the searches aren\u2019t conducted by someone who has a specific and deep-rooted fear of someone, but by someone who\u2019s become obsessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
A tribute to Harvey Willgoose was shown on the big screens at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, in the days after his death (PA)<\/p>\n
He told the court the defendant had also researched rage rooms and, just over a week before the fatal stabbing, searched \u201cwaiting for someone to swing so I can let out my anger\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Thyne said this was echoed in the defendant\u2019s behaviour on the day he stabbed Harvey, and showed CCTV clips from the school which he said showed him trying to provoke Harvey, who remained \u201cpeaceful\u201d.<\/p>\n
The trial has heard evidence from another pupil who said Harvey told him the defendant had been acting like he had a knife under his jumper that morning, but Harvey had thought he was bluffing.<\/p>\n
Mr Thyne said: \u201cIt\u2019s just a tragedy Harvey didn\u2019t realise (the defendant) reaching for, or indicating he had, a knife in (a science lesson), was genuine.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told the court that in footage of the fatal attack on Harvey, the defendant could be seen unzipping his coat, putting his hand in his pocket, and taking out the knife.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was acting with thought, with purpose and knew exactly what he was doing,\u201d he told jurors.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said the school\u2019s headteacher had told police that after the stabbing, the defendant had told him he knifed Harvey \u201conce, maybe twice\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Thyne said: \u201cThis proves the lie when he says he can\u2019t remember. He knew then, just as he knows now, exactly what he\u2019d done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecutor added the defendant was \u201cmotivated by wanting to show he was hard, sending out a message about who he was, someone not to be messed with\u201d.<\/p>\n
Starting his closing address to the jury, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, said the defendant \u201csnapped\u201d after years of bullying and \u201can intense period of fear at school\u201d.<\/p>\n
He told jurors: \u201cTragically, Harvey was a combination of being the final straw that broke (the defendant) and the unintended face of a series of threats of violence and bullying he had suffered in recent months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe say he suffered a loss of control which resulted in horrific and tragic consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Hussain said: \u201cIt is a frightening state of affairs that boys and young men think the way to stay safe is by carrying a knife.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a nuclear arms race, and all that happens is the likelihood of them being used increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sad truth is boys involved in this case, at the very least, were keen to make people think they did carry knives, keen to make people think they were ready to use them, and keen to make people think they knew older and more violent boys who were ready to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A schoolboy who stabbed a fellow pupil to death on their lunch break \u201cwanted to show he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,393,4884,1620,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-312178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-sheffield","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114959749195552672","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}