The mother of Harvey Willgoose believes her son’s murderer should be named when he is sentenced later this year.
A 15-year-old boy was found guilty of murder last week by a jury who heard how he stabbed Harvey in the heart during a lunch break at All Saints Catholic High School, in Sheffield.
The teenager cannot be identified because of an order imposed when he first appeared at court in February.
A number of media organisations, including the PA news agency, applied to the judge, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen, for his anonymity to be lifted when he was convicted last week.
The judge said she wanted to hear the views of the prosecution and defence before she makes a decision on the day the boy is sentenced, October 22.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, Caroline Willgoose said: “Harvey hasn’t been here to speak up for himself and he’s been named. So, I think the defendant should as well.”
Orders made under Section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 not only prohibit reports from naming defendants under 18 years old, but also ban the reporting of other information which might lead to their identification.
This includes what school the defendant attends.
At the beginning of the murder trial last month, media organisations successfully applied to the judge for this order to be modified so that it could be reported that the defendant was a pupil at All Saints Catholic High School.
They argued that it would be very difficult to report what happened in the school on February 3 without this variation.
On October 22, the judge is bound by law to balance two competing interests in deciding whether the boy can be publicly identified.
The first of these is the welfare of the defendant, who will still be only 16 at the time of the sentencing and, as the jury in the trial heard, has a number of issues around his health and home life.
The second is the fundamental principle that court cases, especially those which have generated high levels of legitimate public interest, should be reported as fully as possible, and this includes naming the defendant.
In recent years, there has been a number of high-profile murders by children after which judges have decided it is right to name the perpetrators.
In the case of the murder of 16-year-old Brianna Ghey, who was murdered in a premeditated attack by Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe in Warrington, Mrs Justice Yip told Manchester Crown Court: “The shock generated by Brianna’s murder and the circumstances of it has spread well beyond the local community, across the nation and indeed internationally.
“The public will naturally wish to know the identities of the young people responsible as they seek to understand how children could do something so dreadful.”
After teenager Bardia Shojaeifard was found guilty of murdering Leeds 15-year-old Alfie Lewis, in a case with many similarities to the killing of Harvey Willgoose, Mr Justice Cotter also decided the killer should be named.
This judge said: “Put simply, many must have been, and still are, asking the question how it comes to pass that a young man such as this carries and uses a knife in these dreadful circumstances, and wondering how far the scourge of knife crime will permeate through our youth unless more is done to prevent it.
“If a seemingly normal boy of 14 carries a knife to school and uses it on a boy in the same school year how bad have things become?”
But judges in other cases have also decided against naming young defendants, after reviewing the particular circumstances of their cases.
One example was the case of two youths found guilty murdering 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai in a Wolverhampton park.
Mrs Justice Tipples said the welfare of the youngsters, who were both 12, outweighed the wider public interest and open justice principles.
Asked about the defendant’s sentencing earlier this week, Mrs Willgoose said: “I think he’s got to be made an example of.”
Harvey’s sister Sophie said of the killer: “He’s a 15-year-old boy. We’d like to think that he didn’t want to murder Harvey.
“He’s just from a troubled background and services have let him down.”
The women said they are campaigning for knife arches to be installed in all secondary schools and colleges to help prevent repeat of the tragedy.
