A teenage boy who murdered a fellow pupil at a Sheffield school has been detained for life with a minimum of 16 years.
Mohammed Umar Khan stabbed Harvey Willgoose with a hunting knife at All Saints Catholic High School on February 3.
Khan must serve a minimum term in custody before he is considered for release by the Parole Board. He will then be subject to licence conditions for life.
Passing sentence, the Mrs Justice Ellenbogen told Khan: “This senseless act has had devastating effects on Harvey’s family. You accept you took the knife into school and intended to have it to use as a weapon, albeit you said for protection. You then used that knife for Harvey’s murder.”
The defendant’s family sat on the front row of the gallery, which looks down on the courtroom.
Khan was wearing a waterproof black hoodie in the glass-fronted dock and he was flanked by three security guards and an intermediary. He showed no reaction as he stood in the dock at Sheffield Crown Court for his sentencing.
The intermediary who helped him through the trial and Wednesday’s hearing wrote some notes on a pad for him to read.
The jury in Khan’s trial was shown CCTV footage of the incident which showed how he stabbed Harvey twice. One of these blows cut through one of his ribs and pierced his heart.
Mohammed ‘Umar’ Khan has been named as the 15-year-old who stabbed Harvey Willgoose |
SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE
Willgoose, 15, died after being stabbed at school in Sheffield |
Tributes outside All Saints Catholic High School | PAThe jury was told how Harvey and Khan fell out following an incident in the school five days before the fatal stabbing, on January 29.
On that day, Khan tried to intervene in an altercation involving two other boys and had to be restrained by a teacher.
When he claimed one of these boys had a knife, a lockdown was declared and police were called, although no weapon was found.
Harvey was not at school that day and stayed off for the rest of the week, texting his dad: “Am not going in that school while people have knives.”
Umar Khan, 15 stabbed fellow pupil Harvey Willgoose
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PA
The knife used by Mohammed Umar Khan, 15, to kill fellow pupil Harvey Willgoose
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PA
Over the weekend before the stabbing, Harvey and Khan fell out on social media, with each siding with a different boy involved in the incident.
When Khan returned to school on Monday, February 3, he was asked by Mr Davis whether he had anything he should not and said he did not.
The jury has heard about a series of encounters between Harvey and Khan that morning before the defendant pulled out the knife and used it just after the start of the lunch break, which began at 12.10pm.
The court was shown images and video found on the defendant’s phone which captured him posing with knives and other weapons, and was told how he had used search terms relating to weapons on the internet.
Khan told the court how he decided to carry a knife for protection as he feared other teenagers whom he believed were carrying weapons.
Passing sentence, the judge told Khan: “I shall now summarise the sentence you shall receive. For the murder of Harvey Willgoose, I pass the only sentence the law allows me to pass for your age.
“You will remain in custody before you are eligible to be released.
“The shortest time you will be in custody is 16 years, less the time you have already spent on remand, agreed to be 259 days.”
Sophie Willgoose paid a moving tribute to her brother in the court
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PA
Harvey’s older sister, Sophie Willgoose, told the court of the “devastating impact” his murder has had on her family.
She said: “Words will never be enough to capture just how special Harvey was.
“We are not just grieving his loss, we are struggling to comprehend the fact that Harvey was murdered in the most cruel and inhumane way.
“We are trying to live each day while carrying a pain that is unbearable and impossible to make sense of. The effects on our lives are far-reaching.”
