Teenager who killed Harvey Willgoose, 15, named and handed life sentence

The teenager convicted of the murder of Harvey Willgoose has been named and sentenced to life with a minimum of 16 years in prison.

- Raphael Boyd

Mohammed Umar Khan, 15, was handed the sentence by the judge, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen, yesterday after being found guilty in August of stabbing Harvey, also 15, in a Sheffield secondary school. Mohammed’s identity had not been reported previously due to his age but this order was lifted by Ellenbogen after applications from media organisations.

Ellenbogen said Mohammed’s age alone did not justify maintaining his anonymity and that the “public will wish to know the identity of those who commit such serious offences”.

Addressing Mohammed, who attended court in a black hoodie, Ellenbogen rejected claims that he had acted in self-defence, saying that he had “blighted” the lives of anyone who knew Harvey and had acted out of “the hurt and anger at what you considered to be his betrayal of your friendship”. As the sentence was read out Mohammed did not show any emotion or remorse.

Harvey and Mohammed attended All Saints Catholic high school in Sheffield, where the attack took place on 3 February during a lunch break. The court heard that students who witnessed the attack ran away “in fear and panic”, with some locking themselves in a cupboard.