Harvey Willgoose parents say school missed ‘red flags’ shown by his killer
The parents of a student stabbed to death by a fellow student during lunch break say they believe the school could have saved his life by acting on “red flags” shown by the killer.
Harvey Willgoose, 15, was murdered in front of horrified children and teachers at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield by 15-year-old Mohammed Umar Khan, who took a hunting knife to school.
Lawyers for the Willgoose family said after an independent review into Harvey’s death there were “several missed opportunities” to address behavior and manage risk before the fatal stabbing.
The private review was commissioned by the St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which runs the school, and was undertaken by a former headteacher and school inspector at Learn Sheffield.
The foundation said it would not publish the report due to sensitivities, but it did publish the recommendations and said it would fully implement them and had made a number of changes since Harvey’s death in February 2025.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the anniversary of Harvey’s death on Tuesday, his father, Mark Willgoose, said his son’s life “100%” could have been saved by the school.
“If they had done what they needed to do, Harvey would still be here today,” he said.
Harvey’s mother, Caroline Willgoose, said the report showed Khan had “too many red flags” that were ignored and repeated her call for knife belts to be installed in schools, saying children were no longer safer than they were when Harvey died.
“There is a knife problem, the only place where children should feel safe is school.”
Ms Willgoose added: “I would like the government to take some control of these academies because they are a law in themselves. This is about their reputation, not about the safety of the children.”
The couple said they were “shocked” when they read the report and wanted an apology from the school.
Mr Willgoose said: “They let Harvey down.”
Ms Willgoose added: “They let them both down.”
Mr Willgoose said it was a “massive failure” that Khan was allowed into the school that day.
Ms Willgoose stressed that a member of staff asked Khan if he had anything in his bag that shouldn’t have been there, saying: “If you have a reason to ask, you have a reason to search.”
Law firm Irwin Mitchell, which represents Harvey’s family, has seen the report and said it found that from the time Khan was first considered for a transfer to All Saints to the day of the murder, school leaders “could and at times should have taken different actions”, while system weaknesses contributed to “overlooks, assumptions and misjudgments”.
According to Irwin Mitchell, the report stated that Khan’s security and conduct records were not requested or reviewed before it was decided to move him from another school to All Saints Catholic High School, and were not read when he was later transferred due to unclear liability.
This meant staff were unaware of historical events involving violence, gun references and anger.
Irwin Mitchell said the report also found gun concerns were addressed “inconsistently.”
After students reported in October 2024 that Khan had previously carried a knife and brought a BB gun on a school trip, staff conducted a search but failed to investigate further, complete a risk assessment or put a safety plan in place, and records were incomplete.
In December 2024, police were notified after an ax was found in her bag outside school, but no follow-up was made within the school and the investigation is said to have identified this as a security failure.
The review also identifies “many cases where government guidance was not followed, including policy gaps, unclear management responsibilities and inadequate post-call safeguarding checks, and delayed or incomplete entries into the online child protection management system.”
Irwin Mitchell said that as Khan’s behavior escalated between November 2024 and January 2025, school leaders needed to “connect the dots” and see these as opportunities for intervention.
They added that the report found that despite an open investigation into a new stabbing allegation, Khan was allowed into the school on the day of Harvey’s death “without being investigated and without any assessment being completed”.
The report includes 10 recommendations for the school, its Foundation, local government and the Ministry of Education.
These include:
- Mandatory record sharing at the beginning of any student’s move into school, senior signature certifying full protection, and review of behavioral records before the student begins.
- Clarity about protection and conduct, including who controls the order of serious events.
- Establish a clear weapons response policy.
- Fix systems and training, including adding specific knife/gun categories to online systems, and ensure all staff are trained on government guidelines on how to search, inspect and confiscate knives.
- Sheffield City Council is to establish a city-wide support system for students involved in knife crime or at risk of stabbing.
- The Department for Education will publish further national guidance on how schools respond to knife possession and reports of knife possession.
Miss Willgoose said: “Harvey was the light of our lives. Everyone who knew him will tell you that he was a fun-loving, cheeky, enterprising boy who filled any room with energy.”
“He had big dreams, he was always laughing, he was always bringing people together. Losing him left a hole in our family that can never be filled.”
“Every day since Harvey was taken from us has been agonizing for all of us. I can still hear his voice saying ‘I love you’ before he left for school that morning – those were the last words I ever heard from him.”
“No parent should outlive their child, especially not because of something as senseless and preventable as bringing a knife to school.
“Reading the findings of this report has been devastating. Seeing in black and white the opportunities to intervene, the signals missed, and how many opportunities there were to protect our son is something no one should have to experience.
“We will always be angry about what happened to Harvey
“Harvey deserved better. All the kids at that school deserved better.”
Steve Davies, chief executive of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, said: “Harvey’s death was a profound tragedy for our community and our thoughts are with his family.
“Not all questions regarding the events leading up to the tragedy were addressed in the criminal proceedings and that is why we commissioned this external investigation to bring as much transparency as possible to the situation.
“We are grateful to the researcher for his careful and meticulous work, as well as to the members of our community who generously gave their time to support this important process.
“It is clear that the report identifies areas that need improvement, including our processes, information sharing and training.
“We are working with an external safeguarding expert to advise on how we can implement the recommendations across the school and, where appropriate, across the Trust as a whole.
“We have already introduced a number of robust measures over the past year and will continue to take action in line with the report’s recommendations and external advice from regulators.”
