Harvey Willgoose said ‘as if anyone’s going to stab me’ before he was killed, jury told

Claire Staniforth was giving evidence at the trial of a 15-year-old boy accused of murdering Harvey Willgoose, also 15, at All Saints Catholic High School, in Sheffield, on February 3.

Ms Staniforth said Harvey came to see her that morning and was chatting about his grandparents going on holiday, before asking about a lockdown incident in the school five days before.

She told Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday (Jul 3): “He said he wasn’t going to be coming into school because he’d heard there had been a knife.”

The teacher explained there had been rumours on social media of a knife being involved in the lockdown incident on January 29, but the court has heard no weapon was found by police.

She said: “My reply to Harvey was that I wouldn’t have been at work if somebody had had a knife.”

Ms Staniforth said: “He said something about being stabbed and put his hands up and said ‘as if anyone’s going to stab me’.”

The teacher said Harvey later spoke to her on the phone from a room where he was working, just before lunch, calling her his “bestie” and telling her he had been talking to a girl from another school.

She said he was laughing as he said: “Don’t tell her anything about me.”

Ms Staniforth said she told him he could come and have his dinner with her.

She said: “But he never arrived.”

Ms Staniforth told the court how she had grabbed something to eat from the dining hall and had gone back to her office when she was told that Harvey had been stabbed.

She said she sprinted to where it had happened and was clearly emotional in the witness box as she added: “I told him I was there.”

Ms Staniforth told the jury she knew Harvey well as she had helped him with attendance issues.

She said: “We had a good laugh together about things. When he did attend school he would come to see me and make sure I was OK, and I’d make sure he was OK.”

The teacher said: “He made me laugh. We’d made each other laugh – a bit cheeky sometimes, but he would never overstep the boundaries with me.”

The jury of eight women and four men have been shown CCTV footage of the moments when Harvey was stabbed by the defendant, who cannot be named.

The jurors have been told that the teenager has admitted manslaughter but denies murder. He has also admitted possession of a knife on school premises.

The trial has already heard about previous incidents in the school involving the defendant, including the one five days before Harvey was stabbed which led to the school going into lockdown.

According to prosecutors, two members of staff physically intervened in a dispute between two other students and the defendant had to be restrained as he tried to get involved.

The jury has been told it was the defendant’s claim that one boy had a knife that led the school to go into lockdown, although the police never found a weapon.

Addressing the jury earlier this week, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, said: “(The defendant) did not set out to kill or seriously hurt anyone.

“The defence say (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.”