Harvey Willgoose’s mum says her son’s murderer needs to be ‘made an example of’

Murdered teen Harvey Willgoose’s mum has said she feels sorry for the teenager who killed him, but says he needs to be made an example of.

Caroline Willgoose appeared on Good Morning Britain today, and told Richard Madeley the 15-year-old killer, who was found guilty last week, was ‘let down’.

Harvey Willgoose was killed with a hunting knife outside the All Saints Catholic High School cafeteria in Sheffield on February 3.

The perpetrator, who cannot be named for legal reasons, brought the blade to school and stabbed Harvey twice in his chest.

Madeley asked Harvey’s mum: ‘What are your thoughts about the boy who did this?’

She replied: ‘I feel sorry for him. Because I think he’s been let down. I think Harvey’s been let down. This shouldn’t have happened. There were so many red flags.

‘They must have known what he was like when his mum said that he’d taken an axe into school.’

As for the sentencing of the teenage killer at Sheffield Crown Court on October 22, Mrs Willgoose added: ‘I think he’s got to be made an example of.’

She said she believes the judge should lift the order which guarantees the perpetrator’s anonymity, due to his age.

Similar anonymity orders have been lifted after other high-profile youth murders, like the killers of Brianna Ghey.

Harvey’s sister Sophie said of the killer: ‘He’s a 15-year-old boy. We’d like to think that he didn’t want to murder Harvey. He’s just from a troubled background, and services have let him down.’

She described the trauma of the six-week-long trial and how watching the CCTV of her brother being stabbed will ‘haunt me forever’.

Sophie and her mum said they are campaigning for knife arches to be installed in all secondary schools and colleges.

Mrs Willgoose said: ‘I know it goes a lot deeper than that. But, let’s start somewhere, and then go into schools and educate children of the devastation, the pure devastation, of what this has caused.’

She believes her son’s death could have been prevented, especially after the killer’s mother reported him having an axe.

The jury in the trial also heard how the school’s assistant head asked the defendant if he had anything on him that he should not have had hours before the murder, and the boy said he did not.

‘If you have a reason to ask that child, you’ve got a reason to search that child,’ Mrs Willgoose said.

Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is looking at the family’s proposals on knife arches.

Steve Davies, chief executive of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, said on Friday: ‘We think especially of Harvey’s family, loved ones and friends today.

‘We cannot begin to imagine the immeasurable impact the loss of Harvey has had on them.

‘Harvey was a much-loved, positive and outgoing pupil whose memory will be cherished by all who knew him. As a community, we have been devastated by his death and we continue to think of him every day.

‘Harvey’s death was an unimaginable tragedy for all, and one that understandably gives rise to a number of questions from his family and others.’

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