By Editor Jack Hardy
The best friend of a pupil fatally stabbed in school claimed his killer was ‘always carrying weapons’ hidden in his trousers, including an axe, a court has heard.
Harvey Willgoose, 15, suffered fatal injuries when another pupil stabbed him on their lunch break at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3.
The teenage attacker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded guilty to Harvey鈥檚 manslaughter by reason of loss of control, but is facing trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of murder.
A boy who was best friends with the Sheffield United fan said that the defendant once told him to feel the outline of something in his trousers – where he found an axe concealed.
The jury previously heard that the defendant鈥檚 mother had contacted the school in December 2024 because she found an axe in his gym bag. The incident was reported to police.
In a recorded police interview that was played to the jury today, the boy was asked about the defendant鈥檚 history of carrying knives.
鈥業 have known since he joined the school he used to carry them a lot,鈥 he said.
鈥楬e carried a little axe, he carried knives – different types of knives.
鈥楬e would either show me or tell me to feel the outside of his trousers and there would be an imprint of the top of an axe or something. It was a few months ago.鈥
But he admitted he had never actually seen the defendant carrying a knife before.
The boy was in school on the day of the attack and recalled how he and other pupils barricaded themselves in a storage cupboard after a panicked student told them: 鈥楽omeone鈥檚 been stabbed, there鈥檚 blood all over.鈥
It came less than an hour after Harvey and the defendant had squared up to each other in a science class which was also attended by the friend.
The boy said he was in detention over lunch when a girl ran into the room to tell them that there had been a stabbing.
鈥業 didn鈥檛 even need her to say who it was, because [the defendant] was always carrying a weapon and Harvey was having a bit of an argument with him,鈥 he said.
The boy, who was 14 at the time, added: 鈥榃e ran into a storage cupboard in the detention hall so we were safe, locked ourselves in and barricaded the door.鈥
He said he had spent quite a bit of the morning with Harvey that day, having been dropped off at his house so they could travel to school together.
The boy was also present at the first school break when Harvey and the defendant began to push each other, but he said that it had seemed friendly and assumed it was 鈥榖anter鈥.
Harvey and the defendant fell out on social media over the weekend before the attack, after Harvey supported a boy with whom the defendant had a disagreement the week before, the court previously heard.
The disagreement had seen the school placed into lockdown and the police called, because the defendant claimed he had seen the other boy carrying a knife.
But the witness said Harvey and the defendant that had previously been friends with no history of animosity.
Recalling the science lesson where Harvey and the defendant squared up just minutes before the fatal attack, he said: 鈥楬arvey walked into the lesson, sat down for a bit and [the defendant] walked in as Harvey was walking out to go on a time out and they squared up to each other.
鈥業 sat near [the defendant] and said to him 鈥渨hat鈥檚 happened?鈥 and he said 鈥渋t was just a bit of beef鈥.鈥
The defendant is expected to argue that his actions were manslaughter due to a loss of control which was the 鈥榚nd result of a long period of bullying鈥.
The trial was previously shown shocking CCTV of the fatal attack on Harvey, which saw the two boys squaring up, before the defendant produced a knife and lunged at him, twice.
Harvey quickly backed away and collapsed just 49 seconds later, the court previously heard. He died from a stab wound to the heart.
The trial continues.