The heartbroken mother of a teenager fatally stabbed at school has told of the ‘horrendous’ moment she mistakenly believed he was still alive – because the police car escorting her to the hospital slowed down and turned off its blue lights.
Caroline Willgoose was left devastated after her son Harvey, 15, was killed following an attack at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on February 3.
He was rushed to hospital, but despite the best efforts of medics was pronounced dead in the ambulance.
The weapon, believed to be a hunting knife, ‘went through his (Harvey’s) rib and punctured his heart’, a court heard last week.
Speaking on Monday, exactly a week after his death, Caroline revealed her husband Mark had called her to say that Harvey had been stabbed.
Caroline, 49, said: ‘I was getting ready to go to work.
‘Mark’s mum rang me and said ‘something serious has happened’.
‘I rang Mark, he was shouting down the phone: “He’s been stabbed! He’s been stabbed! It’s serious!”
Caroline Willgoose, pictured with Harvey, revealed she mistakenly believed he was still alive after the stabbing – because the police car escorting her to the hospital had slowed down
Caroline revealed her husband Mark (pictured with her outside Sheffield Town Hall on Saturday) had called her to say that Harvey had been stabbed
‘As soon as he said that, a police car came up and said “you need to come with us now”. It was just horrendous.’
Caroline, of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said she was travelling to the city’s Northern General Hospital in a police car with blue lights with her other son.
But tragically Harvey died on the way to the hospital. She mistakenly believed that the car resuming to normal speed meant he was ‘all right.’
Caroline said: ‘We were going to go to Northern General Hospital. We’d got blue lights on.
‘Me and my son were there and then they said “we’re going to go to the Children’s [hospital]”, turned the blue lights off and were going normal speed. I still thought “oh, he’s all right”.’
On Saturday, hundreds of people marched from Sheffield Town Hall to Bramall Lane, where Harvey’s favourite football club Sheffield United play.
Caroline and Mark carried a banner that read ‘Lives not Knives’.
She said: ‘He was known up and down the country.
Harvey Willgoose (pictured) was rushed to hospital with ‘serious injuries’ after the attack at All Saints Catholic High School on Monday afternoon
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of Harvey Willgoose (pictured), 15
The mother of 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose, Caroline, revealed she is still wearing her son’s ‘grubby’ T-shirt after he was stabbed to death
On Saturday, hundreds of people marched from Sheffield Town Hall to Bramall Lane, where Harvey’s favourite football club Sheffield United play
A tribute to Harvey appeared on the main screen at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, on Saturday
‘People have got in touch with me from other cities to say they met him at away games and he was funny.’
During an emotional interview with BBC News, Caroline dressed in one of Harvey’s black tops and revealed she was still in shock at the news.
‘I’ve got his grubby T-shirt on so I can smell him,’ she said.
She sat alongside Harvey’s father, Mark, who broke down in tears as he said: ‘He were brilliant, my best pal. He were a rogue at times but a lovable rogue. He was just… I’m just lost for words.’
Caroline urged others not to carry knives and to think of the ‘devastation’ that can be caused.
‘I don’t want anybody to go through what we are going through,’ she said.
The emotional mother added that the last thing Harvey said to her before going to school on Monday morning was ‘I love you’.
A 15-year-old boy, who can’t be named due to his age, has been charged with murder, possession of a bladed article and one count of affray.
Police officers stand outside the school gates following the stabbing last Monday morning
Dozens of flowers and tributes have been left for the teenager at Sheffield United football stadium
Caroline Willgoose said the last thing Harvey said to her before going to school on Monday morning was ‘I love you’
He appeared at Sheffield Youth Court on Saturday and sat with his head down throughout most of the hearing.
The teenager will appear at Sheffield Crown Court on April 28 and a trial has been provisionally set for June 30.
Steve Davies, chief executive officer of St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, previously described Harvey as a ‘immensely popular young man’.
He said: ‘All Saints Catholic High School lost one of our own in the most shocking and tragic of circumstances.
‘Harvey was an invaluable part of our school community.
‘An immensely popular young man with his fellow students and teachers alike, he had a smile that would light up the room. Harvey was young.
‘He was precious. He was loved.’
In a heartbreaking statement issued through South Yorkshire Police last week, Harvey’s mother Caroline previously said their lives ‘will never be the same again’.
The 15-year-old boy charged with the murder of Harvey’s murder has been remanded into youth detention accommodation after appearing at Sheffield Youth Court (pictured)
Emergency services raced to the All Saints Catholic High School (pictured) courtyard as classrooms were plunged into lockdown
A crime officer outside All Saints Catholic High School on Granville Road in Sheffield
‘We are utterly heartbroken at the loss of our beautiful boy, Harvey Goose,’ she added.
‘Our lives are devastated and will never be the same again. We have lost a beloved son, brother, grandson, cousin, nephew and most importantly, a best friend to all.
‘Harvey will be forever known for being a caring, loving and funny young man.’
Sir Keir Starmer said the ‘whole country’ will ‘mourn with’ the teen’s family after the devastating loss.
The Prime Minister said in a statement: ‘The terrible stabbing in Sheffield is one where I think the whole country would want to reach out to the family, the friends, to the school, the entire community, in their grief and mourn with them.
‘Obviously there will be an investigation, but I think at this point I simply speak for the country, to the individuals affected, to the family in particular, but everybody impacted by this awful situation – a young boy has gone to school and hasn’t returned home.
‘And so my first thoughts as Prime Minister and as a father are with the family.’
Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan also paid tribute to the teen on social media.
He wrote on X: ‘RIP Harvey Willgoose … Can’t quite believe what has happened at a Sheffield school.’
