A teenager told a senior teacher “you know I can’t control it” before he gave up his knife after stabbing another student to death, a jury has heard.
Assistant headteacher Morgan Davis described the aftermath of the stabbing of 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose at All Saints Catholic High School, Sheffield, in a video statement played to a jury at the city’s crown court on Wednesday.
Mr Davis explained how he was about start his lunch time duty on February 3 when a group of boys told him that “(the defendant) has stabbed Harvey”, saying they were “obviously in shock”.
The assistant head said he ran towards the main school building, adding: “I could see to my right that Harvey was on the floor in the courtyard and there were some students around him.
“I then went into the main school building and turned right on the central corridor. As I did that I could see (the defendant) holding a knife.”
Mr Davis said the student was “waving that around”, demonstrating to the officers in the recording.
He said two female colleagues approached the teenager, trying to get him to drop the weapon.
Mr Davis told the officers: “He didn’t look like he was going to drop it so I approached and put my hand out.
“And I said ‘just give me the knife, just give me the knife.
“I kept repeating that in a kind of calm tone.
“At that point he told me ‘you know I can’t control it’ or words to that effect.”
He said that, after that, he “essentially took the knife from his hand”.
The jury has been shown CCTV footage of Harvey being stabbed in the courtyard.
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.
Mr Davis was asked by the officers what he thought the boy meant when he kept repeating “you know I can’t control it”.
The teacher said: “He certainly has had issues with anger while he’s been at our school.”
And he said the defendant had anger management interventions.
Mr Davis said he had spoken to the boy earlier on February 3 when he had returned to school following an incident the previous week when the school had gone into lockdown.
The jury has heard how, on January 29, two members of staff physically intervened in a dispute between two other students and the defendant had to be restrained as he tried to get involved.
Prosecutors said it was the defendant’s claim that one boy had a knife that led the school to go into lockdown, although the police who responded never found a weapon.
Harvey was not in school that day.
Mr Davis said he discussed this incident on the morning of February 3 with the defendant, and asked him: “You’ve not brought anything in, have you?”
He said the boy replied: “No, no, no, no, nothing like that, I’m just happy to be back in school.”
Asked about Harvey, Mr Davis said: “I would describe him as a bit of a cheeky-chappie.
“He’s really funny, really likeable, always got a smile on his face.”
Earlier on Wednesday, All Saints teacher Eleanor Kidder told the jury how Harvey said “I didn’t come to school to fight” shortly before he was stabbed to death.
Ms Kidder said Harvey came to the inclusion room where she was working in the last morning session of February 3.
She said he was “agitated, annoyed, heightened emotionally” and told her there had been an argument between him and the defendant.
Ms Kidder told the jury: “He seemed annoyed. He told me he thought there might be an altercation happening on the day, but he’d been reassured that everything was calm.”
She said they also discussed social media exchanges over the weekend before.
The teacher said Harvey seemed “irritated”.
She said: “He said he didn’t come to school to fight. So, I didn’t think he came expecting that to take place.”
Addressing the jury last week, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, 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.”
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