A 15-year-old boy has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years for the murder of Sheffield schoolboy Harvey Willgoose, also aged 15, in a lunchtime knife attack in February.
Mohammed Umar Khan, who can now be identified, took a five-inch hunting knife to the school and used it to stab Willgoose twice in the chest outside the cafeteria at All Saints Catholic School.
The Sheffield Crown Court judge said Khan’s “senseless acts” were a consequence of a “long-standing interest in guns” and that the murder had a “devastating effect on Harvey’s family” and that their lives had been “tainted by his actions”.
The judge told Khan he had a “long-standing inability to control anger”, citing three incidents at school between November last year and January this year in which he became angry and aggressive.
Prosecutor Richard Thyne KC also said that, although Khan had no previous convictions, he had already taken an ax and a knife separately into the school and had already confronted Harvey at the school.
The judge told him that Khan would receive a minimum sentence of 16 years, minus the time spent in pre-trial detention, which is equivalent to around 15 years and three months. However, the boy did not show any obvious emotion when the sentence was read.
Video surveillance cameras showed Harvey arriving at school and remaining calm after the attacker tried to provoke him. The attacker was also seen in images holding a knife in the cafeteria before the stabbing.
Khan had previously admitted voluntary manslaughter but denied murder. However, in August he was found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court by a majority verdict of 11 to one.
Defense lawyers claimed that the boy had “lost control” after years of suffering bullying and “an intense period of fear at school.”
Speaking outside court, Harvey Willgoose’s mother, Caroline, said she was relieved the case was over, but said Khan “doesn’t appear to be remorseful.”