Murder accused 'posed with knives to scare people'

A teenager accused of murdering a fellow pupil at his school has told a jury he took pictures of himself with weapons, including a knife and axe, to warn people to stay away.

The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named due to his age, has given evidence at Sheffield Crown Court for two days as part of his trial over the death of Harvey Willgoose.

Harvey, also 15, died after being stabbed during his lunch break at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on 3 February.

The defendant, who has admitted manslaughter and bringing a knife to school premises but denied murder, said he made the pictures so people would be "scared".

When asked by his barrister Gul Nawaz Hussain KC why he posed with the weapons, the boy said: "They see the pictures, they're going to think 'I'll stay away from him, don't cause a problem with him'."

Mr Hussain then asked him if he wanted to "have a problem" or "trouble" with anyone, but he said he did not.

The boy said he thought that if someone had pictures of themselves with knives, others "would be scared of the person".

When asked who he wanted to be scared of him, the boy replied: "People that cause problems for me."

The boy told the jury he wanted to carry a knife because he had been threatened by older teenagers who went to a school he previously attended.

The jury was shown the images of him posing with a knife, an axe and a hammer, which were found by police on his phone.

The boy was asked about his mother reporting to his school that she had found an axe in his bag in December 2024.

He said that he bought a small knife from a student at All Saints but, when the student turned up with an axe, he decided to buy that instead.

While addressing the jury last week, Mr Hussain 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," he said.

The trial continues.

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