Murdered schoolboy Harvey Willgoose's mum 'dreading' killer's sentencing but vows to fight
The mum of murdered schoolboy Harvey Willgoose, 15, said she is 'dreading' hearing the fate of the teen who murdered her son over a Snapchat dispute during his lunch break
The mum of murdered Harvey Willgoose says she is ‘dreading’ today’s sentencing of her son’s killer. Harvey, 15, was stabbed to death during his school lunch break after a dispute over Snapchat. His killer will hear his fate today.
The Judge will also decide today if the juvenile killer can be named.
His mum, who fears she sent her son into the “lions’ den” by sending him to school, has told The Mirror how she was left staggered that so many ‘red flags’ were missed.
Yesterday Caroline Willgoose posted on Facebook: “Dreading tomorrow Harvey son, whatever it is we are always gunner fight for you, our children, our future, we love and miss you so much Harvey.”
Caroline, 51 and her husband Mark, 52, from Sheffield, have become prominent campaigners against knife violence since their son died in February this year, worried "children are going to school scared".
READ MORE: 'My son was stabbed to death by a classmate but he's still making a difference'READ MORE: Mum of boy murdered at school slams Education Secretary's warning to parentsTheir son was stabbed twice by a classmate, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at All Saints Catholic High School, in Sheffield.
His killer, who was given permission to play with fidget spinners during his trial, had ordered the “scary” hunting knife online.
The prosecution said he’d used the 13cm hunting knife to kill Harvey because he “wanted to show he was hard”.
The devastated mum believes the tragedy could have been prevented if the school had acted on five "red flags".
The jury heard how the accused was “obsessed” with weapons since he was 13, even taking a knife and an axe into school months earlier. And during the trial it emerged a police officer also visited him months earlier about an axe his mum had found hidden in his gym back at home.
After stabbing Harvey twice, once with “severe force” cutting through a rib and piercing his heart, he was then seen "dancing and bouncing" on his ties while still armed with the knife.
After “dropping” the weapon into his deputy head’s hand, the accused then said:"‘I’m not right in the head. My mum doesn’t look after me right. I’ve stabbed him." Giving evidence he told the court he "lost control" and didn’t remember stabbing Harvey.
Mrs Willgoose told how Harvey’s killer refused to look at her through the trial at Sheffield crown court, which she described as “mental torture”.
She did hear teachers give vivid accounts in court of his bubbly personality and added: "That's not a naughty kid. That's the kind of kid he was. He related to everybody.
"I want him to be remembered as the fun-loving kid, cheeky-chappy, sociable kid, that he was. He was just a joy. He was a million miles an hour, he was a happy chappy, loved life, loads of friends. He's just left a big empty hole," she told the Mirror in August, after his killer was found guilty of murder.
Asked if she thought that his killer understood the magnitude of what he had done, she said: "I don't know. When I'm in there, he does look at me all the time. And I hope that he does. But, I don't know."
Incredibly the mum even has room for some compassion for her son’s killer, saying: “He's very cocky (in court) but is that a mask? Because at the end of the day he's in this courtroom with all these strangers, these adults. Is it a mask? I hope it is. I hope he is sorry, but he hasn't shown any remorse.
“I haven't got any feelings for him. I feel like he's been let down as well, really, if you listen to all the story. But I still want justice, I still want him to go away for a long time, I want him to be done for murder. He's got to serve a long time in prison. “