The teenager who stabbed Harvey Willgoose to death during their school lunch break was spoken to by police just weeks before the murder – for having an axe in his bag.
Mohammed Umar Khan, 15, attacked Harvey, also 15, with a 13cm serrated-edged hunting knife he had taken with him to All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield in February.
The city’s crown court heard Khan has a ‘history of carrying weapons, including on school grounds’ and was spoken to by an officer in December 2024.
A police officer visited Khan’s home after his own mum reported him saying she had found an axe in his school bag.
But while the weapon was confiscated, Khan was only given ‘safety advice’ and no further action was taken.
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Explaining the decision, Detective Chief Inspector Andy Knowles said: ‘There wasn’t enough there to be able to arrest him and charge him with possession of a bladed article. It’s not just possession – it’s possession in a public place that is the critical factor.
‘There isn’t that evidence to show that he had it out publicly. Obviously, we can ask questions around it, and he denied having any knowledge of it.
‘So, in this instance the safest thing to do was to give him that safety advice.’
Jailing Khan for at least 16 years yesterday, judge Mrs Justice Ellenbogen said of the axe incident: ‘[The officer] advised you about the dangers of carrying weapons, advice which you ignored.
‘Prior to February 3, 2025, there had been at least one other occasion on which you had been in possession of a weapon, a knife, on school premises, captured in a video clip and in photographs.
‘Notwithstanding all of this, throughout your trial, you sought to minimise the extent of your interest, and gave explanations for the way in which photographs of weapons had come to be on your phone which were, put simply, not believable.’
She added: ‘Your history of carrying weapons, including on school grounds, the fact that your offence took place on school premises, and the fact that numerous pupils and teachers were present at the time, are all aggravating factors in this case.’
After the murder, detectives found photos on Khan’s phone of him posing with a knife, an axe and a hammer.
Asked about the axe during his trial, Khan told jurors he bought it off another pupil at the school.
Khan said he had arranged to buy a small knife from a student at All Saints but, when he turned up with an axe, he decided to buy that instead.
He said he had wanted a knife for ‘protection when I go out’ and confirmed that the axe he bought at the school was in some of the photos the jury has seen.
Asked by his barrister Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, why he made these images, Khan said: ‘They see the pictures, they’re going to think “I’ll stay away from him, don’t cause a problem with him”.’
Khan denied wanting to ‘have a problem’ or looking for ‘trouble’ with anyone, adding that anyone seeing the pictures ‘would be scared’ of him and not ‘cause problems’ for him.
Harvey’s mum Caroline Willgoose, who has campaigned with her husband Mark for knife arches in schools since her son was killed, said after the sentencing: ‘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 took an axe in to school.’
Mrs Willgoose told reporters she was pleased Khan had been ‘made an example of’.
She said: ‘I feel like a big weight’s been lifted off my shoulders, to be honest.
‘We just need to get on with our lives and try and do good things for our Harvey, for those kids.’
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