Heartbroken Caroline Willgoose says she doesn’t think she will ever have the strength to move her sons’ belongings – some six months after his senseless murder
The heart-broken mum of tragic teen Harvey Willgoose has revealed she still has her son’s Kicker school shoes by the front door, and clothes in the washing basket, six months after his murder.
Caroline Willgoose, 51, says she doesn’t think she will ever have the “strength” to move the them. She has also told how his Canada Goose school coat is still hung by the front door too.
The mum-of-three spoke out just a two weeks after a 15-year-old schoolboy, who cannot be named, was found guilty of the murder of Harvey at Sheffield Crown Court.
Football-made Harvey was fatally stabbed through the heart in the courtyard of All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield in February this year, the court heard.
A funeral service held at Sheffield Cathedral attracted over 1,000 mourners and Harvey’s coffin was adorned in the colours of his beloved Sheffield United.
Earlier this week Caroline controversially claimed that her son’s killer should be named publicly stating that “he needs to be made an example of”.
Currently the convicted murderer, who will be sentenced later this year, cannot be named for legal reasons.
Caroline, who also has two other children, Sophie, 28, and Lewis, 26, spoke movingly about the traumatic aftermath of losing her youngest son.
She said living without her “amazing, kind, and cheeky” son has been “difficult”.
The grieving mother said: “I’ve still got his school shoes and trainers by the door, his coats on the rack. His school clothes are still in our washing basket. I don’t think I’ll ever move them or have the strength to.”
She has also revealed that his bedroom has been left unchanged as a shrine to her Harvey, but she has only managed to enter once or twice since his death.
Caroline said: “His room is unchanged apart from when my husband Mark has tidied it up a little bit. His room was only small.
“The night before he died, he had stayed up all night, that is what he used to do sometimes before he went to school and had made himself a sausage sandwich and a glass of squash.
“Mark has taken that, and made the bed nice, and straightened things up a bit. His door always remains closed, even if Mark goes in to have a cry, so he can feel close to him. However if he leaves the door ajar I have to shut it.
“I don’t go in his room often. I have been in his room and laid on his bed and cried. I try not to because I think it would be so easy for me to go into the room and simply not come out again. But I can’t, I’ve got to keep going, I’ve got to keep going for the kids.
“I’m not ready for the door to be open yet as I don’t even feel like I’ve touched the surface yet of grief.”
Following Harvey’s death, Caroline has been “keeping busy” with campaigning for knife arches to be installed at every UK school.
She has also been running Harvey’s Hub, a safe and engaging club for young people she and her husband Mark, 52, created in memory of their son.
Though Caroline says she hasn’t become “completely broken” yet stating that keeping his name alive is keeping her going.
She said: “I hate that saying, ‘Harvey Willgoose the student that was stabbed to death’.
“Harvey would hate it to because he was a very proud kid, he was a very popular kid and teachers loved him. He isn’t a victim and I want him to be remembered for the loving person he was.
“He can never be forgotten.” I also have a job to do. I feel like Harvey is with me all the time. I feel like I could breakdown at anytime, when things calm down and I have a minute, it’s like Harvey is telling me to turn my head and keep going.
“I want to make changes and I don’t want to have him forgotten and I know Harvey would love it that he is making a positive change.”
Yesterday Caroline also defended her controversial comments claiming the school could have prevent the tragic incident saying there were “many red flags missed”.
She said: “There were so many red flags what were missed. The kid has previously brought an axe into school. The morning he was killed a teacher asked the boy do you have anything on you, referring to a knife.
“He just had to take the boy’s word for it. If you have a reason to ask, you have a reason to search.
“Harvey also took himself out of the lesson and explained to a teacher saying, ‘the way he (the boy) is moving, he’s got a knife’ and nothing was done.
“The week before Harvey was murdered when the school was put into lockdown he texted his dad saying, ‘see that’s why I don’t go into school because there are knives’.”
She also drew parallels of her son’s murder after watching the hit Netflix series ‘Adolescence’. Adolescence follows a family after their son was convicted of the murder of a fellow classmate.
The grieving mum said: “It’s bizarre the timing of when the show came out. It shows the other side of things but there were a few bits.
“One of the scenes where I thought wow, was when teachers and the police were going around the school. The kids were getting nastily told off for grieving and I thought that’s got to change as they need to feel safe there (at school).
“Also when they were showing an empty bedroom. For me if it keeps the conversation going, then that’s a huge win.”
A spokesperson for St. Clare Catholic Multi Academy Trust, which All Saints High School is part of, said: “This was a devastating incident, and our hearts go out to the family.
“They have endured an unimaginable loss no one should ever have to face, and we completely understand why they have important questions about what happened.
“That is why we have committed to engaging fully with the reviews and investigations that can now take place to help ensure every angle is considered and no key questions are left unresolved.”
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