The distraught mother of a 15-year-old boy stabbed to death at school has appealed to other youngsters to beware the devastation they could cause by using knives.
Another 15-year-old boy appeared at Sheffield Youth Court on Wednesday charged with murder, possession of a bladed article and affray after Harvey Willgoose died on Monday.
Caroline Willgoose said: “Just think if it was your brother, sister, dad, mum. Can you imagine the devastation if you lost somebody through that?
“I don’t want anybody to go through what we are going through.”
Her son was stabbed in the heart with a hunting knife following an altercation at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield, at 12.17pm on Monday, the court heard.
Mrs Willgoose described her son as “the life and soul of the party” and “a joy to be around”.
She told the BBC: “He loved football, football was his life. He was going to be an actor at one point. I think he would have been good at it.”
She said Harvey’s final words to her before he left the family home to go to school on Monday were “I love you.”
“I have got his grubby T-shirt on so I can smell him,” she added.
“I don’t want to go to sleep because I don’t want to wake up and have to relive it all and remember it.”
The defendant, who cannot be named because of his age, was remanded into youth detention accommodation by District Judge Tim Spruce to appear before the city’s crown court on Thursday.
The judge told the teenager, who sat in the dock with his head bowed throughout the hearing: “You will be aware that you are charged with offences arising from an incident on Monday the 3rd of February.
“There is an allegation that you murdered Harvey Willgoose on that date.
“It is early days in this investigation but this allegation involves a knife, a hunting knife, being taken into school and used to stab another pupil in broad daylight, resulting in the death of that pupil.”
Prosecutor Rob Coyne said a lockdown incident at the school which occurred the week prior “did not directly involve” the defendant or Harvey.
The school had gone into lockdown after there were “threats of violence” between pupils, parents were told last week.
Harvey’s father, Mark, told BBC News that his son was his “best pal” and a “lovable rogue”.
He added: “We need to learn from this so no-one goes through what we have as a family”.
Mrs Willgoose thanked Harvey’s friends and family for their “amazing” support, adding: “That’s what’s keeping us going”.
“It’s just unbelievable what people are doing.”
