The mother of Harvey Willgoose has said she would be prepared to meet her son’s killer, as she spoke out about social media lies surrounding his death.
Mohammed Umar Khan, 15, was sentenced to life in prison last month, with a minimum term of 15 years for murder.
Khan stabbed Harvey, also 15, in the heart during a nine-second confrontation in front of other pupils during their lunch break at All Saints Catholic High School, Sheffield, on February 3.
They had fallen out on social media shortly before the attack.
Khan was also found guilty of carrying a hunting knife into his school on February 3.
In the trial, Khan failed to persuade a jury at Sheffield Crown Court that his actions amounted to manslaughter because bullying had led him to lose his control.
Harvey’s mother Caroline Willgoose, 51, said she was devastated by social media posts then wrongly alleging that her son was a bully.
Mrs Willgoose said Harvey and Khan were friends and together with another boy were known as ‘the Three Amigos’.
Caroline Willgoose, mother of Harvey Willgoose, said she is prepared to meet her son’s killer
She said people were making TikToks claiming that Khan was racially abused by her son, with some saying he ‘deserved everything he got’.
Mrs Willgoose said she would be prepared to take part in restorative justice – where victims of crimes or their families are allowed to meet offenders to ask them questions.
While she is willing to come face-to-face with her son’s killer, she said she is apprehensive about what his attitude will be like.
She told The Mirror: “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, you know at the end of the day both of them have been let down.”
Mrs Willgoose said she suspects that Khan may in fact be the one who refuses to meet her.
She added: ‘I didn’t go to the (public) gallery very often but when I did he always looked a bit shocked. 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. We were all really close, like his family was sat in front of us all the time and we held doors open for each other.’
Khan was in the same year as Harvey, but had only met him the previous September, when he joined All Saints after leaving his previous school because of bullying.
The trial heard Khan had been targeted by other pupils over a catheter that he had fitted for a kidney issue and that he became increasingly scared for his own personal safety in the months before the killing.
Mohammed Umar Khan was sentenced to life in prison for murdering Harvey Willgoose
He described a difficult home life during his evidence, claiming his mother had mental issues and his father – who was often in Pakistan and absent from the family home – would beat him for minor indiscretions.
Social services visited the family in December last year after concerns were reported to them that Khan and his siblings were not being fed properly.
The referral stated that the children looked skinny and malnourished, did not own pyjamas and had no sheets on their beds.
But, after a visit to the family home, social services concluded no further action was required.
A psychiatrist said in a report to the court that Khan had been subjected to ‘excessive physical punishment’ at home.
Describing his mother’s mental health issues, Khan said ‘she would just stand there and stare into nothing’ and frighten them by running the taps to their hottest temperature before holding her hands under the scalding water.
Against the backdrop of his troubled homelife, Khan developed what the judge described as a ‘long-standing interest in weapons’.
Police released some of the chilling material recovered from his phone, including a video, recorded at school, showing him lunging with a knife he bought on the internet. It was a replica of a weapon from the video game Assassin’s Creed.
Harvey Willgoose, 15, was stabbed through the heart at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield
Another picture showed him posing with the five inch (13cm) hunting knife he would later use to murder Harvey.
During his evidence, Khan claimed he posted the images online because he was scared of being attacked and wanted to project a fearsome image.
Harvey had barely attended school that term and only found himself the focus of Khan’s rage when he made the fatal mistake of supporting another boy with whom Khan had fallen out during a social media row.
The row related to 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’s mother, Caroline, previously told the Daily Mail that Khan’s involvement in the knife scare represented a critical missed opportunity and, at very least, he should have been searched when he arrived at school on February 3.
She now says she believes Khan was ‘in awe’ of Harvey because he was well known across the city and popular.
On the morning of the attack, CCTV from the school showed Khan in a series of escalating confrontations with Harvey.
Knife-obsessed Mohammed Umar Khan, 15, was named as the killer of Harvey Willgoose, also 15
Khan squared up to Harvey in a science lesson around an hour before the stabbing and gestured with his hand inside his jacket pocket ‘like he had a knife’.
At 12.15pm, when the lunch break started, Harvey approached Khan in the school courtyard and he could be seen on CCTV pushing Khan’s shoulder. Khan pulled a knife from a coat pocket and lunged at Harvey, twice.
The first stabbing pierced his heart and was dealt with such ferocity it broke through a rib, while the second was a glancing blow as Harvey retreated.
The confrontation lasted just nine seconds. Within 49 seconds, Harvey had collapsed and slipped into unconsciousness.
The boy then told a teacher as he handed over the murder weapon: ‘I’m not right in the head. My mum doesn’t look after me right.’
Caroline has now called for ‘bleed control’ kits to be available in every secondary school. She believes it could have saved Harvey’s life.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail in August, Ms Willgoose attacked the school for failing to stop Khan, saying: ‘I blame them.
‘I blame them more than him. There were so many red flags.’
Police officers and floral tributes are seen outside All Saints Catholic High School where the murder took place
She watched the sentencing hearing from the public gallery with other members of Harvey’s family, including his father Mark and sister Sophie – who read a statement to the court on behalf of the family. She said ‘our whole world was shattered forever’ by Harvey’s death.
Passing a sentence of life with a minimum term of 16 years, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen told Khan: ‘I’m sure that you didn’t act to any extent in self-defence or fear of violence.’
The judge continued: ‘I’m also satisfied by the point at which you came to stab him, you were the aggressor.’
Khan showed no emotion as he was sentenced.
