A 15-year-old boy told his headteacher “I’m not right in the head” after fatally stabbing a fellow pupil in the heart, a jury has been told.
Sheffield Crown Court has been shown footage of the “shocking” incident at All Saints Catholic High School in the South Yorkshire city on 3 February, which left 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose dead.
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder. He has also admitted possession of a knife on school premises.
Prosecutor Richard Thyne told the court that after the fatal incident, the defendant told headteacher Sean Pender: “I’m not right in the head. My mum doesn’t look after me right. I’ve stabbed him.”
Mr Thyne said the boy confirmed to Mr Pender that he was referring to Harvey and said he had stabbed him once or twice.
“Whilst waiting for the emergency services to arrive, [the defendant] also told Mr Pender that he was carrying the knife for protection,” he said.
Jury shown CCTV of stabbing
The altercation happened in a school courtyard just as the lunch break was starting, the prosecutor added.
The jury was shown footage of the incident, after being warned: “It is shocking, but it is necessary to play it.”
The prosecution case is that the CCTV shows Harvey appearing to put his left hand on the defendant, who then “takes a knife out of his left pocket, passes it across into his right hand, and then stabs twice at Harvey’s torso”.
Mr Thyne said the defendant then advances towards Harvey, who backs away, before “[the defendant] returns towards where the incident began, gesturing towards Harvey with his knife, and appearing to shout at Harvey”.
The video shows Harvey running towards the defendant, who advances for a second time “bouncing on his toes, still brandishing the knife”.
The defendant then went into the school’s dining hall still holding the knife as “other pupils fled in fear and panic”, Mr Thyne said.
The teenager did not put the weapon down when staff initially asked him to do so, the jury heard.
Assistant head Morgan Davis then approached the defendant, and “held his hand out and took the knife from [him]”.
“At the same time the headteacher, Mr Pender, placed his arm around [the defendant]’s shoulder and took him along the corridor to his office” the prosecutor said.
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Boy ‘had unhealthy interest in weapons’, jury hears
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Thyne told the jury Harvey was stabbed with a hunting knife which had a 13cm, serrated-edged blade.
Prosecutors also said the defendant “had an unhealthy and apparently longstanding interest in weapons”, saying he had photographs of him posing with a variety of weapons, including a machete, on his phone.
A police officer had given him advice about the dangers of carrying weapons months before the incident, after his mother found an axe in his bag.
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Addressing the jury, the defence’s barrister Gul Nawaz Hussain said: “[The defendant] accepts what he did that day. He accepts responsibility for the tragic and lasting consequences of his actions.
“That is why he’s pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
“[He] did not set out to kill or seriously hurt anyone.”
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,” Mr Hussain said.
