Overview

• The defendant told jurors he purchased an axe from a classmate in December 2024 after facing threats and displayed it in photos alongside knives and a hammer to scare off bullies.
• He described enduring physical assaults over a medical condition, racial abuse and online intimidation that left him fearful, sleep-deprived and prone to uncontrollable anger.
• The boy has pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of loss of control but denies murder, insisting he did not intend to kill his classmate Harvey Willgoose during the February attack.
• Jurors were shown images and videos from his phone that the defense says illustrate his motive was self-defense and deterrence rather than intent to cause fatal harm.
• Sheffield Crown Court is weighing whether his actions meet the legal threshold for murder or manslaughter as he completes his testimony.