I blame the school where my son was stabbed to death more than his own killer: Harvey Willgoose’s mother says teachers failed to act when troubled teen brought knives and axe into class

The mother of a teenager stabbed to death by another pupil has revealed she blames her son’s school more than his killer for his death.

Harvey Willgoose, 15, was stabbed in the heart by another 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, during their lunch break at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3.

His killer was today found guilty of murder at Sheffield Crown Court, after failing to persuade a jury that his actions were manslaughter because bullying had led him to lose his control.

Now, in an exclusive interview with the Mail, Harvey’s mother Caroline Willgoose has launched a blistering attack on her son’s school – claiming they missed a litany of red flags about his killer.

The Mail can also reveal that a concerned parent contacted All Saints as far back as October 2024 after hearing the defendant had been showing other pupils an axe in school.

But the school apparently failed to take any action against the pupil, with no reference made to it in his official school record, despite the parent being told the matter would be investigated.

The revelations suggest the school was aware of the killer’s dangerous fixation with weapons months earlier than previously realised – and it has now been accused of failing to act.

Ms Willgoose is haunted by the possibility that her son’s murder could have been prevented if school authorities had taken the risk posed by his killer seriously.

She said: ‘I blame them. I blame them more than him. There were so many flags.’

The missed opportunities she highlights are many and varied, but none more critical than those on the day of the attack itself.

At its most basic, she believes teachers had every reason to search the defendant for weapons that morning.

He had been at the centre of a knife scare the week before, when he told teachers that another boy was armed and threatening to stab him, which led the school to be placed into lockdown.

School authorities also knew the boy had been found in possession of weapons in the past. The risk that he might arm himself for self-defence reasons that day – his first time back in school – was clear.

Tragically, no search was carried out, with assistant teacher Morgan Davis happy to accept the boy’s word that he had not ‘brought anything with him’.

Then, around an hour before the stabbing, there was another critical missed opportunity, when a confused and irritated Harvey told teacher Eleanor Kidder that the defendant had just squared up to him in a science class and pretended to take something out of his trousers. He told a friend the boy was ‘acting like he had a knife’.

Yet the teacher made no attempt to raise the alarm that a pupil might be armed.

Ms Willgoose said: ‘He was involved [in the lockdown incident], this lad, and in the morning the teacher asked him “have you got a weapon on you?” and he said “no” – but if you’ve got a reason to ask, you’ve got a reason to search, as far as I’m concerned.

‘There’s so many flags. Harvey took himself out of the science lesson as soon as this child walked in and he told the teacher “the way he’s acting, it’s as though he’s got a knife” and within that hour, Harvey was stabbed to death.

‘How many flags, how many warnings have they had?’

Harvey and the defendant had fallen out on social media that weekend after Harvey publicly supported the boy who allegedly made the knife threat towards the defendant on the day of the lockdown.

It was a fatal error of judgement, as he became the defendant’s only obvious target when he realised the boy who threatened him was not in school that day.

In a desperate attempt to dodge a murder conviction, the defendant repeatedly smeared Harvey in his evidence – claiming he had threatened him that morning and he only stabbed him because he feared he was about to be stabbed himself.

The boy claimed he lost self-control when he dealt the fatal blow due to a long history of bullying, suggesting by implication that Harvey was among his tormentors.

But the claims were unconvincing. Harvey had only attended school 20 days that academic year as he struggled with his mental health and the pressure of adapting to academic life post-Covid. Prior to the social media argument, the two boys had actually been friends.

‘It’s been hard to hear how he’s been portraying my son,’ Ms Willgoose said.

‘I mean, people do believe him and think Harvey was a bully, which kills me because he wasn’t.

‘He used to big himself up, but he wasn’t a fighter.’

This was perhaps best demonstrated by Harvey’s words to another teacher that morning after the defendant had squared up to him: ‘I didn’t come to school to fight.’

Instead, Ms Willgoose said, Harvey had always been the type to involve himself in other people’s disputes since he was young, often in a vain attempt to sort them out.

‘He was a busy body – and it’s cost him his life,’ she said.

Most heartbreakingly of all, Harvey had been determined to make his mother proud by going into school on the day he was killed.

Two of his older friends had made him promise he would go into school that day and said, as a reward, they would come and pick him up afterwards.

As he left the house that morning, he said to his mother: ‘I’m going to school, are you proud of me?’

Ms Willgoose said: ‘I said “I am, love”. His friend was at the door and Harvey had his back to me and he said “shut the door behind, mum, I love you”. They were his last words to me.’

But despite the evidence the defendant gave about her son, Ms Willgoose says she has not harboured any strong hatred towards him.

‘I’m not angry, because when you see him, he’s just a child. Maybe it’s the mother in me. He’s been let down as well.’

The trial heard that the boy was bullied for years over a medical issue at school and he claimed his father used to beat him over minor infractions at home.

Social services were called to investigate the boy’s home life in the year before the stabbing over concerns he and his siblings were coming to school malnourished.

Ms Willgoose said she was taken aback by how emotional she had felt after hearing about the boy’s difficult upbringing.

She said: ‘I started crying and feeling sorry for him and I don’t feel sorry for him. I don’t get why.’

She is less forgiving of All Saints Catholic High School, however. She claims the school had developed a habit of trying to shield its reputation, specifically by minimising the lockdown incident the week before her son’s murder.

A letter sent to parents at the time by headteacher Sean Pender – and seen by the Mail – makes no mention of knives whatsoever as it sets out the reasons for the lockdown.

‘A lot of these schools are academies, they’re a brand, and when anything’s found, it’s shoved under the carpet,’ she said.

‘I know someone that sent an email to the school the day after the lockdown saying “my daughter is worried because she knows there’s knives in school, is anything being put in place?” and she got a snotty email back saying “nothing was found unless you know something different – remember the name of the school”.’

Harvey had not attended school on the day of the lockdown incident and it is clear that he was left rattled by reports of pupils with knives.

His mother describes going into his room that day to tell him the school was in lockdown, only for him to reply: ‘I know, because someone’s got a weapon in there for me’.

In a text to his father, Mark, two days later, he said ‘am not going in that school while people have knives’.

Although there is no evidence Harvey was in any danger from the lockdown incident, his decision to support the boy who had the confrontation with the defendant that day would provoke his fury.

Prosecutors alleged that the murder was motivated by betrayal, as the defendant had worked himself into a rage over his former friend choosing to support someone else over him.

To Ms Willgoose’s mind, there was no shortage of evidence that the school should have been extremely worried about the boy’s dangerous potential.

The trial heard that the defendant had a history of explosive outbursts. He smashed a computer screen on one occasion, and punched a hole in a wall on another.

He had bought several knives and an axe in the months before the killing and posted menacing videos and pictures of himself posing with them on social media, including some taken on school premises.

A friend of Harvey’s told the court that the defendant was ‘always carrying weapons’ and recalled an incident in their form room the previous year when the boy asked him to feel the outline of an axe hidden in his trousers.

This appears to have taken place around the same time that the parent became aware the boy had brought an axe to school and raised the alarm with school authorities in October.

Yet the school appears not to have been spurred into action until December, when the defendant’s mother contacted teachers to let them know she had found an axe in his gym bag.

The school called the police and an officer visited the boy to warn him of the dangers of carrying weapons.

Then, there were the defendant’s words to a teacher on the day of the lockdown incident.

He explained to head of year Claire Staniforth that when he saw the other boy acting like he had a knife in his pocket, he had told him: ‘What have you got there? Do you want me to come and take it off you and I’ll kill you?’

Since her son’s murder, Ms Willgoose has struggled to make sense of the school’s reluctance to take action against the boy sooner.

She said: ‘When I was at school, if I had smashed a computer screen through anger and punched a wall, I would have been out of that school.

‘If people were saying that I had got an axe in school, I’d have been out of that school. The lockdown, if I was involved, I would have been out of that school.’

She is pleased that the verdict has meant justice for Harvey, but has said she will not be celebrating.

She said: ‘There’s been no winners here. There never are any winners.

‘We’re never going to be happy again. I’ve got to live with this. You’ve got to carry on without our Harvey. It’s horrific. Mark is not in a good place and hearing him cry about it, it’s harrowing.’

Her and Harvey’s father, Mark, have become anti-knife campaigners since his murder in February and recently met with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to discuss their work.

They both believe that metal detectors – known as knife arches – in schools are needed to curb the growing trend of pupils coming to school armed to impress their friends or intimidate others.

But, she said, this has to go hand-in-hand with greater education about the devastation knife crime can cause.

Ms Willgoose believes her son would be proud of the work she’s doing.

‘I feel like he’s with me,’ she said. ‘I feel like I could crumble, but I feel like he’s saying, “no, not yet, not yet, not yet”.

‘I think he’s coming through me.’ 

Steve Davies, CEO of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust which includes All Saints Catholic High School, said: ‘We think especially of Harvey’s family, loved ones and friends today. We cannot begin to imagine the immeasurable impact the loss of Harvey has had on them. Harvey was a much-loved, positive and outgoing pupil whose memory will be cherished by all who knew him. As a community we have been devastated by his death and we continue to think of him every day.

‘Harvey’s death was an unimaginable tragedy for all, and one that understandably gives rise to a number of questions from his family and others. Now that the trial has finished, a number of investigations aimed at addressing and answering these questions will be able to proceed. We will engage fully and openly with them to help ensure every angle is considered and no key questions are left unresolved.’