We now have a verdict in the trial at Sheffield Crown Court<\/p>\n
Harvey died after being stabbed at the All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3Author: Katie Dickinson and Dave Higgens, PAPublished 1 hour ago
Last updated 46 minutes ago<\/p>\n
A schoolboy who stabbed another pupil to death on their lunch break has been found guilty of murder.<\/p>\n
Harvey Willgoose, 15, was stabbed in the heart in front of horrified children by another 15-year-old boy who had brought a hunting knife to school. <\/p>\n
Sheffield Crown Court heard how other pupils fled “in fear and panic,” with some locking themselves in a school cupboard, after the fatal attack at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3. <\/p>\n
The defendant, who cannot be named because of his age, admitted manslaughter but denied murder, saying he “snapped” after a long period of bullying and does not remember what happened. <\/p>\n
But prosecutors said he “wanted to show he was hard” and “knew exactly what he was doing”. <\/p>\n
On Friday a jury found him guilty of murder by a majority of 11 to one after deliberating for over 14 hours. <\/p>\n
Sheffield Crown Court heard the stabbing was probably an “act of retribution, to “get back at Harvey for something”. <\/p>\n
The trial heard the two boys fell out several days before Harvey’s death after taking opposite sides in a dispute between two other boys. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors said the defendant had an “unhealthy” interest in weapons and had photos on his phone of him posing with other hunting-style knives and a machete. <\/p>\n
The court heard he also “had a significant history of becoming angry and using violence at school”. <\/p>\n
Prosecutor Richard Thyne KC said the defendant had researched rage rooms and, just over a week before the fatal stabbing, searched “waiting for someone to swing so I can let out my anger”. <\/p>\n
He told jurors that on the day of the stabbing, CCTV footage showed him trying to provoke Harvey, who remained “peaceful”. <\/p>\n
The court heard Harvey told his friends that the defendant had been “acting like he had a knife” under his jumper in their science lesson that morning, but thought he was bluffing. <\/p>\n
Jurors were told Harvey was happily talking to his friends in a courtyard as lunch break started, when the defendant approached him. <\/p>\n
One teenage witness said there was an altercation and the defendant punched and pushed Harvey, causing him to stumble backwards, before pulling out a knife and stabbing him. <\/p>\n
Another girl who gave evidence said: “We went inside to go and tell a teacher, but the teacher was frozen as well. She didn’t know what to do.” <\/p>\n
She said: “People were running, screaming everywhere. It was, like, chaos.” <\/p>\n
The defendant told the trial that suffering racist bullying and taunts about a medical condition meant he got angry quickly and “couldn’t control it”. <\/p>\n
The boy told the jury his mother had mental health problems and his father, who hit him, was often not there. <\/p>\n
He told the court he took the knife to school because he thought he was going to get hurt that day. <\/p>\n
He said Harvey looked angry when he brought up a previous dispute, and had one hand in his trousers, which made him think the schoolboy had a knife. <\/p>\n
Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, told jurors: “Tragically, 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
“We say he suffered a loss of control which resulted in horrific and tragic consequences.”<\/p>\n