Harvey Willgoose’s parents believe his death could have been prevented as there were “flags” in the days and hours before he was stabbed to death at his school.
Caroline Willgoose said her son was worried about attending, telling his parents he thought some students had knives, and she said this belief was shared by other children at All Saints Catholic High School, in Sheffield.
Mrs Willgoose said: “There were so many flags, so many flags.
“That’s the harrowing thing, that’s the worst thing, that it could have been so prevented.”
The jury heard how the defendant was asked if had brought anything into school that he should not have just a few hours before he stabbed Harvey, and he assured the assistant head that he did not.
This followed an incident five days before when the school went into lockdown after this boy claimed one of the teenagers involved had a knife, but police found no weapons.
Mrs Willgoose said: “If you have a reason to ask that child, you’ve got a reason to search that child.
“And that was on the morning. Hours before this happened to Harvey.”
She said: “Harvey told us on that Wednesday (five days before he died), ‘this is why I don’t go to school, because children have knives in schools’.
“He told us that on the Wednesday.
“Children knew that there were knives in that school.”
The trial heard detailed evidence about the incident in school which led to the lockdown on Wednesday January 29, five days before Harvey was stabbed.
The defendant had to be physically restrained by a teacher when he tried to intervene in a violent incident between two other boys.
When he told the teacher he believed one of these other boys had a knife, the school was placed into lockdown and police were called.
But officers who attended did not find any weapons.
Harvey, who had chronic attendance problems, was not at school that day.
Neither Harvey nor the defendant attended school for the rest of the week.
The jury heard how a relative of the defendant told the school the defendant was scared of going back after the lockdown and, on Friday January 31, Harvey sent a text message to his dad saying “am not going in that school while people have knives”.
Both boys returned the following Monday, the day of Harvey’s death, after a weekend falling-out on social media, with each siding with one of the two boys at the centre of the lockdown incident.
The defendant told the jury about a series of incidents involving one of these boys and how he was scared of this teenager and his friends, believing they carried knives.
On the morning of the stabbing, the defendant was writing a statement about the lockdown incident when he was asked by assistant headteacher Morgan Davis: “You’ve not brought anything in, have you?”
In a video interview watched by the jury, Mr Morgan said the boy replied: “No, no, no, no, nothing like that, I’m just happy to be back in school.”
Harvey’s parents said another “flag” was an incident involving an axe which the defendant’s mother found in his bag.
The boy told the jury that he had bought it at All Saints school.
A police officer visited his home a month before Harvey’s stabbing, and the defendant told the police he did not know how the axe had got into his bag, which the officer did not believe.
The boy later told the jury that he lied to the officer.
The officer was recorded on his body-worn camera telling him: “Carrying weapons to protect yourself is the most stupid thing you can do, because you are almost guaranteed to be seriously hurt or killed if you carry a weapon.”
After he was arrested for killing Harvey, the defendant was found to have range of pictures and videos on his phone of him posing with knives, the axe, a machete, and a baseball bat.
These included the knife he used to kill Harvey.
And they also included a video clip of the boy brandishing a knife in the grounds of All Saints school.
The boy told the jury how he decided he wanted to carry a knife because he had been threatened by older teenagers.
He told jurors he wanted these boys to think he had a knife so “they wouldn’t threaten me.
“They wouldn’t try and cause problems with me.”
The trial also heard how the boy searched the internet using terms like killer knife, dagger, pocket knife, and machete.
Steve Davies, chief executive of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, 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.”
South Yorkshire Police referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after Harvey’s death in relation to prior contact officers had with the defendant.
This did not meet the criteria for a valid referral as there was no police contact with Harvey prior to his death.
The IOPC said it later received a complaint referral “in relation to the actions and decision-making by officers regarding the alleged offender prior to the incident” and a complaint was also made regarding the actions of an officer following the incident.
It said it was decided that an investigation was required and that it should be undertaken by South Yorkshire Police.
