Harvey Willgoose's mum willing to go face-to-face with son's 15-year-old killer after how he acted in court
The grieving mother of murdered teen Harvey Willgoose has said she is willing to sit down with her son's killer, despite his 'bizarre' behaviour in court.
The 15-year-old lad died in February this year after fellow pupil and former pal Mohammed Umar Khan, also 15, stabbed him during their lunch break at a school in Sheffield.
Jurors heard how students at All Saints Catholic High School were left 'running' and 'screaming' as Harvey was attacked with a hunting knife, which fatally pierced his heart and severed one of his ribs.
Khan was found guilty of murder in August, before being sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 16 years last month.
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As she handed down his punishment, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen described the teenager as 'the aggressor' who 'acted in hurt and anger at what he considered to be [Harvey's] betrayal of their friendship'.
Khan claimed that he did not intend to fatally injure his school pal, saying he couldn't remember the incident, as he had 'snapped' and 'lost control', while telling the court he could 'get angry quickly' as a result of being bullied.
The killer also said that he had been neglected, while suffering physical and emotional abuse at home, the BBC reported.
However, prosecutors said that Khan had an 'unhealthy interest in weapons' and 'knew exactly what he was doing' when he took the knife into school on 3 February.
He and Harvey had fallen out after taking opposite sides in a row involving two other pupils, and days later their argument escalated to deadly proportions after their spat continued on social media, Sheffield Crown Court was told.
Now, Harvey's mother Caroline Willgoose has revealed that she would be prepared to meet Khan, despite the fact he 'stared' her down during the month-long murder trial.
She explained that although she is willing to participate in restorative justice, she suspects her son's killer might be unable to face her.
Caroline said that Khan 'always looked a bit shocked' when she caught his eye in the courtroom, telling The Mirror: "He used to stare at me, to stare me out.
"I wouldn’t move my head and he would just stare and stare for ages and then he would look down. It was bizarre in court."
She explained that Khan's relatives were 'sat in front' of Harvey's loved ones 'all the time', adding: "And we held doors open for each other."
The mum explained that her biggest apprehension about speaking to Khan face-to-face would be his attitude, saying: "I hope it's the mask of a 15 year old that's just going through hell.
"But I wouldn't like to go meet him and have him be cocky with me. But he's been let down."
Caroline revealed that Harvey's grandmother had contacted Khan's mother out of sympathy as they believe 'she's been made a scapegoat'.
"She was the only one that saw a problem," Caroline said. "They blamed her in court, saying she didn't bring him up right.
"And that is why my mum said: ‘I just want to thank you because you are the only person that saw that there was a problem and you tried to put a stop to it’, which is true. I think she was shocked."
Caroline is calling for bleed control kits to be installed in all secondary schools across the country, as she believes Harvey could have survived if there had been one close by.
"Even in car crashes they are using bleed kits and they are saving lives," she said. "I do think schools should have them. They are supposed to be registered, but there’s only two apparently in Sheffield that’s registered but in London there’s thousands. And in this area it has escalated with knife crime.”
The kits are designed to manage 'life-threatening external bleeding', according to the Defib Shop, and they include 'essential equipment needed to apply direct pressure, perform wound packing, and use tourniquets effectively, enabling immediate action before emergency services arrive'.
It can take around three to five minutes for someone to 'bleed out' and die, while it typically takes ambulances 'well over' this amount of time to arrive at Category 1 calls involving life-threatening bleeding.
Caroline also wants knife arches to be rolled out in schools across the UK.
Olivia Burke