Harvey Willgoose told dad he didn’t want to go to school because ‘there were knives there’, says devastated mum
Caroline Willgoose told LBC there were "so many red flags" before her son Harvey, 15, was murdered by Mohammed Umar Khan at All Saints Catholic High School, in Sheffield.
Harvey Willgoose warned his father that there were knives at his school before he was murdered by a fellow pupil who had previously brought an "axe to school", his heartbroken mother has revealed.
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Caroline Willgoose told LBC there were "so many red flags" before her son Harvey, 15, was murdered by Mohammed Umar Khan at All Saints Catholic High School, in Sheffield.
Khan, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Wednesday, stabbed the teenager in the heart with a hunting knife in front of horrified children on January 29.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how five days before Harvey was killed, the school was placed in lockdown over claims one pupil had a knife on them.
Ms Willgoose said her child knew that knives were being taken to school by students, even telling his father that he didn't want to attend lessons because he feared his classmates were carrying weapons.
She also claimed that Khan's mother had reported to the school that her son, who was named by the judge during his sentencing hearing, had attempted to take an axe onto the site in December 2024, but "nothing was done".
Read more: Mother of Harvey Willgoose says she feels sorry for son's killer but demands tough sentence
The court was also told a police officer had visited Khan's house around that time after his mother found photographs of him posing with weapons.
"The children knew that there were knives in that school," she told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.
"Harvey knew. Harvey said. Harvey didn't go to school on that first lockdown. But when I told Harvey, he said, somebody's got a weapon for me in school. I know. He also sent my husband a message saying, this is why I don't go to school, dad, because children carry knives.
"His [Khan] mother reported him taking an axe into school in December. Nothing was done."
The jury was told how Harvey and Khan fell out following an incident in the school five days before the fatal stabbing, on January 29.
On that day, Khan tried to intervene in an altercation involving two other boys and had to be restrained by a teacher.
When he claimed one of these boys had a knife, a lockdown was declared and police were called, although no weapon was found.
Over the weekend before the stabbing on Monday morning, Harvey and Khan fell out on social media, with each siding with a different boy involved in the lockdown incident.
Describing the fall-out of the two boys, Ms Willgoose said: "There were two gangs. Not our Harvey's gang. Harvey wasn't in a gang, but there were two sets of children that was in an argument. And Harvey butted in and was a busy body and took somebody's side. And Umar [Khan] took a big dislike to that."
When Khan returned to school on Monday February 3, he was asked by a teacher whether he had anything he should not and said he did not.
The jury has heard about a series of encounters between Harvey and Khan that morning before Khan pulled out the knife and used it just after the start of the lunch break, which began at 12.10pm.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how other pupils fled “in fear and panic”, some locking themselves in a school cupboard, after the fatal attack.
The jury was shown CCTV footage of the incident which showed how Harvey was stabbed twice.
One of these blows cut through one of his ribs and pierced his heart.
Following Harvey's death, his mother has been campaigning for the government to do more to keep children safe in schools.
Ms Willgoose says knife arches should be installed in all schools to prevent tragedies like her son’s from happening again.
"I wants knife arches. I know it was a lot deeper than that. I keep saying. And then I want education. I want to go into schools and educate children of the pure devastation of what knife crime brings," she said.
"There is no winner."
Asked how she would like Harvey to be remembered, Ms Willgoose said: "Just a cheeky chapper kid that everybody loved, caring just all age groups, old, young.
"He got on with everybody and involved everybody, Wanted everybody to be involved wherever we were. Wanted everybody to be his friend and that's what that lad said in the dark. Harvey was my friend.
"I've had so many people, so many kids that's messaged me saying that he helped him out, you know, sorted arguments out, which is what our Harvey always did, which is. Which has cost him his life in the end.