A schoolboy who stabbed a fellow pupil to death during their lunch break had suffered “physical and emotional abuse” at home, a court heard.
The 15-year-old is on trial accused of murdering Harvey Willgoose, also 15, who was killed at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3.
On Wednesday, Sheffield Crown Court heard two consultant forensic psychiatrists agreed that there was “evidence of physical and emotional abuse and neglect in (the defendant’s) home life, including lack of food and excessive physical chastisement”.
In a list of agreed facts read to the jury by junior defence counsel Richard Holland, the psychiatrists said his “oppositional behaviour and defiance” was more obvious in school.
They said that if he had had “appropriate boundaries and discipline” he would have better emotional regulation, and that incidents of aggression in the weeks and months before the alleged murder were “examples of his difficulties in controlling his emotions, including anger”.
Mr Holland said another report by two psychologists found the defendant’s below average levels of verbal comprehension were because of his “adverse early experiences rather than a neurodevelopmental disorder”.
The court also heard a copy of Harvey’s school timetable was found in the defendant’s bedroom, and that only a member of staff or Harvey would have been able to print it off.
A jury 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 at the beginning of the trial, 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.”
The trial continues.
