A 15-year-old boy who stabbed a fellow pupil to death has told a jury he posed with weapons in photos to warn people to stay away from him and “don’t cause a problem”.
The boy was shown a series of photos and video clips as he was giving evidence for a second day at Sheffield Crown Court, where he is on trial for the murder of Harvey Willgoose, also 15, at All Saints Catholic High School in the city in February.
The images, which were found by police on the defendant’s mobile phone, included him posing with a knife, an axe and a hammer.
The defendant told the jury he bought the axe at All Saints school, from another pupil.
Asked by his barrister Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, why he made these images, the boy said: “They see the pictures, they’re going to think ‘I’ll stay away from him, don’t cause a problem with him’.”
Mr Hussain asked him if he wanted to “have a problem” or “trouble” with anyone and he said he did not.
The boy explained how, if someone had pictures of themselves with knives, “they would be scared of the person”.
Asked who he wanted to be scared of him, the boy said: “People that cause problems for me.”
He added: “They wouldn’t threaten me. They wouldn’t try and cause problems with me.”
The boy told the jury how he decided he wanted to carry a knife because he had been threatened by older teenagers who went to a school he had attended previously.
The boy told jurors: “I know they carry knives.
“If they pulled a knife out, I could pull a knife out.”
He said he thought the boys would use the weapons they carried, but he said: “I’d rather they ran away than have to use it.”
The boy said: “There are lots of people who had problems with me or said they would do things to me.”
He said he was threatened online by teenagers who said things like: “I’ll stab you up.”
The defendant said one boy said “he would smoke me” and another said: “‘I’ll shank you up’.”
The boy was asked about an incident in December 2024 when his mother reported to the school that she had found a weapon in his bag, which turned out to be an axe.
The defendant told the jury that he had arranged to buy a small knife from a student at All Saints but, when he turned up with an axe, he decided to buy that instead.
He said he had wanted a knife for “protection when I go out” and confirmed that the axe he bought at the school was in some of the photos the jury has seen.
Mr Hussain asked the defendant why he made internet searches relating to anger.
The boy said: “Because my anger keeps getting worse and worse.”
And he added: “Because nobody’s helping me.”
The defendant told the jury about an incident about two weeks before the fatal stabbing when he punched the wall in an inclusion room at the school.
He said that another boy had used a racial slur while talking to him and this had left him “annoyed and upset”.
When Mr Hussain asked him why he punched the wall, the boy said: “Because I was angry”.
The defendant said that shortly after this incident, he heard Harvey whispering to another boy: “Who’s coming after school for (the defendant)?”
He said he thought this meant “obviously someone to come outside school to hurt me”.
The defendant said he took this seriously and it made him “even more scared”.
He said this was first time he had had any problems with Harvey and said it felt like “he turned against me”.
The jury has been shown CCTV footage of Harvey being stabbed in the courtyard at All Saints during the lunch break on February 3.
The court has heard that the defendant, who cannot be named, has admitted manslaughter but denies murder.
He has also admitted possession of a knife on school premises.
Addressing the jury last week, Mr Hussain said: “(The defendant) did not set out to kill or seriously hurt anyone.
“The defence say (the defendant’s) actions that day were the end result of a long period of bullying, poor treatment and violence, things that built one upon another until he lost control and did tragically what we’ve all seen.”
The defendant is expected to continue giving evidence on Friday.
